


burn 'em up and scatter their remains

by barelyprolific



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Future Fic, Gen, Homophobia, M/M, Multi, Police Brutality, Serial Killers, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 21:13:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 50,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21277814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barelyprolific/pseuds/barelyprolific
Summary: A serial killer taunts L.A., targeting first responders. Fear creates tension among the 118, at the station and outside of it, but they’re going to need to come together stronger than ever to survive this.





	1. tragic with a capital T

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys! I'm a little nervous about posting this, but I want something that holds me accountable, so... This is my NaNo project this year. However, while I'll be aiming for about 2,000 words/day, I probably _won't_ be posting a chapter a day, because not every chapter will be that length.  
Bear with me, please, and I hope you enjoy.

“I’m telling you, nobody was around.”

Heavy boots stomped across a wet, dimly lit parking lot as Officer Terrence Garson made his way back to his car. On the other end of his walkie, dispatch questioned how thoroughly he’d checked the area. 

“The call was bogus. The store’s been shut down, locked up, no signs of forced entry and no one inside. Either the address was wrong, or it was a prank.”

Terrence, known to his friends as Terry, or Ter, was a decent enough guy, nearing his fifth anniversary on the force. His partner was out sick for the week, and they were spread so thin, he was running lead _ and _ flying solo. His head had become slightly inflated because of it; he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings, confident that the site was secure.

“Probably just some kid, I don’t know, ask the person who took it.” 

Terry fumbled with his keys in his pocket, managed to pull them out and get the right one into the car door before the blow to the back of his head came. They stayed there as Terry crumpled to the ground. 

Thirty minutes later, when lack of communication had dispatch sending a unit to the scene, that was how they found them. Still dangling from the car door.

Aside from a smear of blood that led away from the car and stopped abruptly twenty feet away, there was no sign of Officer Terrence Garson.

***

The station was abuzz when Evan “Buck” Buckley stepped into it early Friday morning. Whispers between groups of two and three made his ears tingle, they were so widespread. As he made his way to the locker room, he tried to catch whatever it was that had everyone so talkative. It was that lack of attention that caused him to almost walk directly into fellow firefighter Eddie Diaz.

“Whoa, Buck,” Eddie caught him by the upper arms, giving them a squeeze and ducking his head to follow and catch Buck’s gaze. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Buck met Eddie’s eyes with a slightly furrowed brow, corners of his mouth dipped down. “Do you know what’s got everyone so...weird? It _ feels _ tense in here.”

“You didn’t hear?” Eddie released Buck, stepped back, arms hanging limply at his side. “A police officer went missing last night after a fishy 9-1-1 call.” 

“What?” Buck’s eyes widened. Man, he had to start watching the news, or reading the paper. Something. “Was it anyone we know?”

Not that it mattered. A missing officer was a missing officer. 

“Not me,” Eddie shook his head. “Officer Terrence Garson? Bobby said he’d never met him, either.” 

Buck, however, had gone slightly pale. 

“Terry?” 

“Wait, you know him?” 

“Uh, yeah, we… I met him a few years ago, we hung out a couple of times. You know, we were both new to our respective forces. Had some things in common.” Buck dropped Eddie’s gaze, looking to his left and swallowing. “He was a good guy.” 

“I’m sure they’ll find him, Buck.” Reaching out again, Eddie clapped his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. 

“Yeah.” Buck still wouldn’t look at Eddie. “Yeah, I’m sure they will too. We got some of the best in the country, out here on the west coast.” 

Putting bravado behind his words, Buck stepped out of Eddie’s grasp, although he held up a fist for the other man to bump. Eddie obliged with a grin that disappeared as soon as Buck’s back was turned. 

He still hadn’t looked at him. 

***

The body of Officer Terrence Garson hit the tarp-lined pavement with a slick thump. His hair was matted with blood, eyes vacant as they stared up at the smoggy night sky. A pair of scuffed red sneakers landed next to him, attached to a whistling figure in a garbage collector’s uniform. The figure kept whistling as the tarp was rolled up, carefully hidden from camera view by the truck he’d been transported in. 

Another figure appeared, picking up the rolled up body, and the two, skating the range of visibility, made their way to the stock entrance of the nearly abandoned gas station. That time of night, only one or two tired workers were on duty.

Getting rid of the body was almost easier done than said. 

***

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” 

“I found Officer Garson.” 

Maddie Buckley straightened in her chair, eyes going wide. She glanced over her shoulder for Josh, waving to catch his eye.

“Uh, and what makes you think it’s Officer Garson?” 

Now she had all of Josh’s attention. He rolled his chair over to her side, glancing between Maddie and her monitors rapidly. Try as she might, Maddie couldn’t pinpoint a location on the call, almost like the signal is blocked. 

“Well, because his face matches the picture on the television, of course.”

There was a calmness to the voice on the line that sent a shiver down Maddie’s spine. Something was wrong with this call. 

“Okay, well, it’s good that you found him. How is he? Where are you?” 

“Oh, he’s dead.”

“...What?”

“His head’s been bashed in and he was stabbed. Baker’s dozen times.” 

“You counted the wounds?” Maddie could feel bile rising in the back of her throat. 

“I made them.”

“What?”

The only response Maddie got was an address, and then dead air as the caller hung up. A quick glance at her screens showed that they had nothing to go on except that address. Even the number had been blocked. Josh was already on the phone with the police, although his words had slowed, and he now stared at Maggie in horror.

“Do I send someone out there?” 

“Only if they have a ton of back up,” Josh retorted. The shakiness in his voice made the snark fall flat. 

“What if it’s a trap?” 

“A _ ton _ of back up.”

***

Sirens blared as half a dozen squad cars squealed to a stop in front of the Love’s. 

Athena Grant stepped out of her car and slammed the door, hands on her hips as she approached the scene. 

She was greeted by Henrietta Wilson with a grime expression.

“He was in there?”

“In there and dead as described.” Hen sighed. “Cashiers on duty all say they didn’t see anything suspicious. Bathroom had an out of order sign when their shifts started.”

“So you wouldn’t have been able to save him?”

“No.” Hen shook her head, giving her friend a sad look. “I’m sorry, ‘Thena.”

“He wasn’t one of mine,” Athena waved her hand as she spoke, but she still sniffed, just once, when her words were done. “Losing a fellow member of the force is always a tragedy. To have him be so brutally murdered? And the boy was up for promotion. I don’t know what I’m going to tell his captain.”

“Yeah,” Hen said, grasping Athena’s hand to give it a quick squeeze. “The sooner you catch whoever did this, the sooner he’ll have peace. Him and the poor boy’s loved ones.” 

The two women stood silently for a moment longer before Athena sucked in a sharp breath, took her hand back, nodding. 

“I will catch this bastard. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Hen, I need to go chat with the forensics team.”

As Athena walked away, Chimney, known more formally as Howie Han, approached. He was a few inches shorter than her, had to look up slightly to see her face. 

“Buck threw up.”

“What?” The words startled Hen into scrunching up her face and looking away from her retreating friend, down to the one at her side. “Buck’s seen worse than this.” 

“He knew the guy.” 

“Oh.” 

“You wanna go take care of that?” Chimney asked hopefully. Hen’s expression turned dark.

“No. You go take care of that. He’s _ your _ brother-in-law.” She started back to the truck, nodding as she passed the medical examiner.

“Yeah.” Chimney sighed. “The only downside to marrying Maddie.”

“At least he’s a great babysitter,” Hen called over her shoulder. 

“This is true,” Chimney agreed, trudging back towards Buck and his vomitous mess. “But I don’t have kids.”

***

“Harry’s at Michael’s?” Captain Bobby Nash of the 118 hung his coat up on the rack by the door, removed his shoes, looking towards where his wife was sitting in the living room as he did. He took the few steps down the entryway to join her, not missing the almost empty wine bottle on the kitchen counter, kissed her cheek as he sat down. 

“Mhm,” Athena hummed, swirling the wine in her glass, staring at the way the burgundy liquid sloshed. “I told him I needed a night.”

“Understandable.” Bobby took the glass from his wife, set it on the coffee table, and then took her hands in his. “What did the Chief of Police say at the meeting he called? Is he thinking there’s a cop killer on the loose?”

Sighing, Athena shook her head. 

“Too soon to tell. They’re looking into possible motives for why Terrence was targeted, but he’s never had anything put in his file. No disciplinary actions, great community involvement… The only thing is…” Athena trailed off, shook her head.

“What? Is what?” Bobby searched his wife’s face while she avoided his gaze.

“It’s probably nothing, but… Terrence was openly gay. The only trouble he ever had was a discrimination suit against a fellow officer, back when he first started, and it was a suit that Terrence won.” 

Stunned, Bobby leaned back. Athena slipped her hands from his, picked up her wine glass for another sip. 

“So you think…”

“I don’t think anything,” Athena said, after quickly swallowing. “It’s too soon to think anything. For all we know, this could have been a random killing.”

“A random abduction and execution, you mean.”

“The details are grotesque, yes, but…” Athena took another sip of her wine, made a face. “Oh, who am I kidding? Even if he wasn’t targeted for being gay or being a cop, he was still murdered. It’s awful. He was a kid--Buck’s age.”

“Apparently, Buck knew him.”

“He did?” Athena’s eyebrows went up.

“Yeah, he, uh, threw up at the scene when he saw the body.”

“Damn.” Athena whistled. When would life cut that kid a break? She curled her legs under her, reaching for a throw with her free hand. She covered herself and Bobby. 

“And how are you doing? Fighting any urges to vomit?”

“No.” Athena sighed, shaking her head again. “I’m just exhausted, and sad. This loss was senseless.”

Bobby shifted, leaning in to his wife a little more. “What about the 9-1-1 call? Any leads there?”

“The number was blocked, and however they called, they managed to obscure any way of tracking them that might have helped us. Same with the first call.”

“The one that got him out to the abduction site?”

Athena hummed an affirmative. “Chief says no one is allowed to respond to a call without backup until we know more about what’s happening.” 

“Safety measures. Sounds like a good idea. You better listen to him.” His wife, Bobby knew, had a tendency to go into things without backup without a second thought. 

“I’ll be fine,” Athena chided, laughing a little and patting Bobby’s chest. “I can take care of myself.”

“I’m sure Terrance Garson thought the same thing,” Bobby pointed out, and Athena sobered a little.

“Alright, fair enough. I’ll take my backup.”

“Thank you. Now, can we talk about something else? What’s on t.v. tonight? Am I cooking or are we ordering in?”

As the conversation shifted, Terrence Garson was pushed from their minds for the evening. 

In another part of L.A., not too far away, Terrence Garson was all Buck could think about. He sat at his dining room table, staring out the window, and silent tears rolled down his cheeks.


	2. devastate them deliberately

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another disappearance causes grief for an old friend of the 118's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for the support so far! I hope this story continues to meet your expectations!

Chimney set down a plate of spaghetti and meatballs in front of his wife, who immediately reached for the parmesan. Taking his own seat across from Maddie at the little four-person table that passed for their dining space, Chimney watched her fix her food exactly how she wanted it, cutting all the meatballs into two, with a fond grin on his face. 

“You have sappy face on.” Maddie shot him a brief, brilliant smile.

“Just feeling lucky.”

“You say that every day.”

“Well, it happens to be true every day,” Chimney replied, taking the parmesan from her for his own food. 

“I think you’re just a sap.” To take the sting out of her words, Maddie leaned across the tiny table, giving Chimney a quick kiss. 

“You could probably put a tap in me and bottle my love for you.” Chimney paused, made a face. “That sounded less weird in my head.”

Maddie laughed, a sound that still made his heart leap years after she’d stolen it so easily. 

Smiling, Chimney picked up a piece of garlic bread, broke it in half to share with Maddie. With his piece, he sponged up some sauce.

“Hey, Maddie,” he said after a few seconds of chewing and swallowing, tone shifting into something a little more careful, “did Buck ever mention a Terrence Garson to you?”

After a moment’s thought, Maddie shook her head.

“No, I don’t think so. Wait, isn’t that the name of the murdered cop?”

“It is,” Chimney agreed. “Buck knew him, apparently.”

Maddie paused mid-twirl of her fork, looking up at Chimney with a slight frown. 

“He did?”

Chimney started to nod, settled for a shrug. If Maddie didn’t know about Buck’s friendship with Terrence, they couldn’t have been that close. It was probably just the shock of seeing someone he knew in that condition that had Buck reacting so extremely. 

“Uh, yeah. He seemed pretty upset about it, at the scene. Threw up.”

Maddie set her fork down completely, giving Chimney a stern look. “And you’re just telling me this now?”

She shifted in her seat until she could pull her phone out of her pocket, frowning when she saw the lack of notifications. 

“He didn’t call or text me.”

“Well, you know Buck.”

“I do.” Maddie pushed her chair back, standing up. “Chim, I have to go check on my brother.”

Chimney suppressed a sigh. Of course she did. Maddie’s bond with Buck was one of the things he loved most about his wife. Unconditional and fierce, the Buckley siblings had survived hell together because of that bond. 

“I’ll keep dinner hot,” he promised, earning himself a kiss on the cheek in passing from Maddie, who was now rushing around gathering things. She threw a couple of pieces of garlic bread into a tupperware container.

Buck did love his carbs, Chimney conceded, holding in another sigh. 

“I might bring him back?”

“Of course.” Chimney would get the couch ready too. Before he could tell Maddie that, though, she was gone, the door slamming shut behind her. 

Chimney stared down at his plate.

What the hell, he thought, and ate a meatball.

***

Sal Deluca never considered himself a man who worried unless there was something to worry about. As far as he was concerned, one dead cop was not a reason to worry.

But a missing partner was. 

He never should have let Perks wander off alone. 

“Deluca, report.” His walkie crackled with static as Sal’s captain came over the line. 

Sal hesitated, pressed the button to talk. 

“Perks is missing, Captain. He went ahead and now I can’t find him.”

Rather than waiting for a response, Sal pressed forward, opening a door he thought he’d seen Perks go through. It hung half off its hinges, creaked dangerously when he touched it. 

The whole house was like that: falling apart. There had been melted caution tape across the porch, only recognizable from bits of piss-yellow and warped font, and a metal sign warning that it was condemned, marked for demolition, attached to a chain link fence around the property. Apparently, someone had decided burning it to the ground would be easier. 

“Perks?” Sal called, trying to peer through the smoke and see any sign of his rookie partner. Saddled with the new kid and he’d lost him their first time out. He’d never hear the end of it.

His radio crackled again, his captain’s instructions coming in broken.

“Clear--Collapse--OUT.”

Sal couldn’t leave Perks, though. He called for the kid again. 

A noise behind him had Sal turning quickly. 

“Perks?”

There was a shape in the smoke, but when Sal approached it, it was just a buckling pillar. Sal very nearly punched it out of frustration. No man left behind, but Perks was nowhere to be found. 

A chunk of ceiling dropped, smoldering, less than a foot away from Sal. 

Maybe Perks had already gotten out, and he would be the one getting lectured for abandoning his team mate. Either way, Sal’s radio was still crackling with increasingly frantic orders that Sal could barely make out. 

He turned back towards the front of the house, hustling towards the exit.

Perks’ name was the first word that left him once his mask was off.

“Is he out here?” Sal looked around at the rest of their crew. Behind him, the fire was causing the house to fold in on itself. There would be no going back in until it had burned to the ground. 

The somber looks on Sal’s team’s faces told him the only answer he needed, and he swore, nearly threw his helmet on the ground.

“Damn it,” he swore, followed it up with, “_Fuck!_”

“Deluca.”

There was his captain, disappointment etched in every line of his face. Not that Sal could blame him. He’d lost the damn kid, probablly cost him his life. 

The team stood there as the fire burned, knowing they couldn’t do more to stop it, knowing if Perks was in there, they couldn’t save him. Their captain stood by Sal, arms crossed over his chest. Both men were silent for almost the entire half an hour it took for the house to collapse completely into a pile of smoldering remains. Contained, because the area around it had already been cleared to keep the fire from spreading, but still devastating.

When it was safe, they approached what had once been a two-story home to check for any unlikely survivors. Sal hung back, afraid of what he would find.

“Any sign of him?” 

Each time he asked, he was answered with a head shake. Finally, the captain approached him, brow furrowed.

“You’re sure Perks didn’t get out?”

“I know he didn’t,” Sal said. “He was right ahead of me. I stopped paying attention for half a minute, but that wasn’t enough time for him to get out of the house. Why?”

“Because,” the captain’s frown deepened, “There are no remains in the house that we can find.”

“What?”

“There are no remains,” he repeated. 

“So he’s not in there?”

“No,” the captain confirmed, “He’s not.”

“Well, then, where the hell is he?”

Unfortunately for Sal, the captain didn’t have an answer. 

***

Someone was pounding on his door. Or maybe that was Buck’s head. He groaned, rolling over, pulling a pillow over his face.

The pounding continued. 

Throwing the pillow off, Buck vowed to give whoever it was that was knocking the worst telling off he could muster when his stomach felt like it was on choppy waves and there was a tiny anvil being dropped on his brain. He took the stairs two at a time, gripping the rail to stay steady, nearly tripped down the last couple. 

Barely managing to catch himself with a hand on the doorknob, Buck took a deep breath before throwing it open.

Maddie was on the other side, wearing her concerned face. Buck groaned again.

“What are you doing here?”

“Why are you obviously smashed by yourself at seven at night?” Maddie shot back, taking in her brother’s bleary eyes, flushed cheeks, and slight wobble. “Because that’s why I’m here, Buck.”

“Chimney tattled.”

“Chimney tattled,” Maddie mocked, rolling her eyes and pushing past him. Buck was too unsteady to stop her. “Chimney was worried. Why didn’t you call me?”

“Because I’m fine,” Buck insisted, following after her. 

“It smells like a brewery in here. That doesn’t say ‘fine’ to me.”

“Look.” Buck put a gentle hand on Maddie’s wrist to stop her from collecting beer bottles. “Maddie. I’m okay. I’m just taking a night to grieve.”

“This is some pretty heavy-duty grieving, Buck.” She searched her brother’s face. “You never mentioned a Terrence to me.”

“Well, we haven’t hung out since we were rookies.”

There’s nothing, really, that should make Maddie suspicious. Nothing technically evasive, except for the way Buck is _ evading her gaze_.

“Evan.”

“...Maddie, can we not do this?” Buck’s voice broke slightly. Hearing it broke just enough of Maddie’s resolve that her shoulders slumped, face softening.

“Fine,” she said gently. “But you’re coming home with me. Chim’s already made up the couch.”

“Maddie, I don’t need a babysitter,” Buck grumbled, shaking his head and dragging a hand over his face.

“Tell that to all the empty bottles on your kitchen counter.”

And, well, Buck really had no argument for that. He went upstairs to pack a bag.

***

News of the disappearance of the 122’s newest rookie spread fast among the Los Angeles Fire Department. Vanished in the middle of a fire that, upon inspection, was suspected to be arson.

“That’s crazy though, right?” Sal demanded of his third rum and coke.

“Not that crazy.” Hen plucked the drink out of his hand, sniffed it, and slid it back towards the bartender with a shake of her head. “That cop disappeared from a bogus scene. Maybe this fire was a set up?”

“_That’s _ crazy,” Sal decided. When he got his drink back, it tasted different, but he couldn’t pinpoint why. “Who would set a fire just to kidnap a firefighter?”

“Annie Wilkes,” Hen muttered to herself, rolling her eyes. She had to admit even she found it hard to belief, but with two first responder disappearances in a week, well.

Hen watched _ Criminal Minds_. She could put two and two together and come up with serial killer.

“Who?” Sal blinked at her, and she rolled her eyes again.

“Sal, is there anyone who can take you home?” Hen still wasn’t sure why he’d called her, of all people. Sure, they hung out sometimes, but since he’d been transferred it happened less and less. 

“Nope.” He popped the ‘p’. “I’m on the market again, Hen. You still gay?”

“Still and forever,” she said firmly, slipping off the stool she’d been sitting on and wrapping an arm around his waist to help him down. 

“Pity.”

“I am reminding you of that when you’re sober,” Hen told him, rubbing his back as they toddled unsteadily towards the bar’s exit. 

“I lost a rookie, Hen. I don’t deserve my badge.” 

“I don’t think you lost him, Sal.” 

“Then where is he?” There was such a mournful quality to Sal’s voice that Hen had to stop and check that he wasn’t crying.

Sal crying, she didn’t think she could handle. Luckily, his face was dry.

“I don’t know, buddy. I wish I could tell you.” 

“I was supposed to protect him. I _ failed _ him.”

“Oh, Sal,” Hen sighed. “Even if I say you didn’t, you won’t believe me.”

“Nope.”

The warm night air hit them as they left the bar, Sal leaning a little more heavily against Hen once they’d stepped outside. Luckily for Hen, he still drove the same piece of crap he had for almost a decade, significantly worse for the wear.

There seemed to be someone leaning against it.

“You expecting anyone?” Hen asked, receiving an almost violent head shake in response.

Apprehension crept up Hen’s spine.

“Hey,” she called, trying to hurry Sal along. “Excuse me? That’s my friend’s car you’re leaning against.”

Sal was paying attention, now, and when he focused enough, he seemed to recognize the person.

“Perks? Perks! Where the hell have you been?”

He pushed away from Hen, stumbling faster towards his car. Hen’s hand reached out for him, just missed his elbow.

“Sal, wait--”

But Sal had reached Perks, clapped a hand to his shoulder.

The body crumpled to the ground, and he screamed. 


	3. there's no one on the corner, and there's no one at home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An aftermath and a beginning.

For the past four years, Eddie Diaz had been a part of the 118. Through several natural disasters, bombings, personal tragedies, Eddie had been with his team. In four years, he had never seen them like they were when he arrived at the station the morning after Firefighter Perks’s death was announced. 

Although they were seated at the table with food spread out in front of them, none of them were eating. Talking, either. Eddie stood at the top of the stairs for a few seconds before he voiced what he’d noticed first.

“Where’s Buck?”

“Personal day.” Bobby looked up from the plate of eggs and toast he’d been starting at. “Surprised he didn’t tell you.”

Eddie was too. Normally, he got a head’s up if Buck wasn’t going to be around for any reason.

“Did he say why?”

“Said it was personal.” There was a shortness to Bobby’s answer that unsettled Eddie. He rocked back on his heels, rubbed his palms over his thighs. 

Had Buck somehow known Perks as well as Garson? Was there really that much about Buck that Eddie still didn’t know? It seemed impossible. Buck spent more time at Eddie’s house than his own, it couldn’t _ be _ possible. 

He hadn’t come over the last couple of nights, however, and now he had called out without letting Eddie know.

“You two fighting again?” 

“What?” Eddie looked back over at the table, to where Hen had spoken. There was a man next to her that Eddie didn’t recognize, dressed in street clothes. “No.”

Hen saved him the awkwardness of having to ask who the stranger was by jerking her chin at him. 

“Eddie, this is Sal. Sal, this is Eddie. Sal used to be a member of the 118,” Hen explained. 

“Sal Deluca?” Eddie didn’t mean to blurt it, but the words slipped out, eyebrows going up. He’d heard stories about Sal. Of course, there was also…

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m the asshole who lost Perks.” 

“Sal, nobody here is thinking that.” Hen put her hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off, pushing his chair back and standing up.

“Everyone is thinking that.” 

“Sal, buddy, we’re here for you because we don’t think that,” Chimney chimed in. 

“You’re here for me because I’ve been removed from duty and Hen doesn’t want me alone.”

“...That too,” Chimney conceded, nodding slightly. “But Sal, we worked together for a long time.” He gestured between the three of them. “We’re your friends, but we’ve also been out in the field with you. You’re a dick and you can be a showoff, but you’re a good teammate. We know you didn’t _ lose _ him.”

“Whoever took him planned it, Sal. If it hadn’t been Perks, it could have been you, or someone else.”

Eddie wasn’t sure if interrupting would be more or less awkward than simply standing there listening, but he went ahead and did it.

“Look, I don’t know you at all,” he gestured to himself as he took a few steps forward, “but I don’t think you lost your partner. In fact, dude, the way I hear it you stayed in there looking for him after you’d been ordered out. That doesn’t sound like an asshole.” 

His words seemed to make Sal falter, and he sank back down in his chair. Hen gave Eddie a small smile before turning back to her friend.

Before she could get another word out, however, the alarm started going, signalling a call. 

“Damn,” she swore. With a squeeze to Sal’s shoulder, she stood and hurried down to grab her gear, Bobby and Chimney on her heels. Eddie turned to follow, catching up to Chimney.

The shorter man glanced at him as they quickly suited up. 

“Hey, uh, listen. You didn’t hear it from me, but...Buck crashed at my place last night. If you get a chance, you should swing by and check on him.” 

“Check on him?”

“That’s what I said.” Chimney climbed onto the truck, effectively ending their conversation. As Eddie followed him up, he wondered why Buck hadn’t reached out to him. 

After all, that was what they did. 

***

The Chief of Police was waiting for Athena when she reached her office. Her steps slowed, halted, and she nodded in greeting.

“Chief. You’re here awfully early.”

“I needed to speak to you, Captain Grant.”

“Of course. About?”

“You heard about Perks?”

“I’m married to a fire captain, Chief. Of course I heard about it.”

“As of last night, he was the second person to go missing and turn up dead.” 

“I’m aware,” Athena came further into her office, went around her desk and sat down. Her hands folded in front of her on the desk, she leaned forward slightly. “Are we going to go ahead and call it what it is?”

“And what is it?”

Athena leaned back again, scoffing slightly. 

“At the very least, it’s a targeted attack against this city’s first responders.” 

The Chief hummed, took the chair across from her. Athena took that as permission to continue, so she did.

“Come on, Chief. Two victims within 48 hours of each other, both disappeared from what turned out to be suspect 9-1-1 calls, turned up dead less than a day later stabbed thirteen times, one a cop and the other a firefighter? Sounds like someone with a vendetta against the system.”

“As I recall, you were the target of such a vendetta once.”

“A few years ago, yes.”

“Are you worried maybe you’re projecting that experience onto this?”

“Absolutely not, Chief. I know the beginnings of a pattern when I see one.”

“Well, then, here’s another piece of your puzzle: Garson and Perks were both openly gay.” 

The information only gave Athena a moment’s pause. 

“You think they’re targeting openly gay first responders?”

“It’s too soon to tell.”

“But you do.”

“Captain Grant…”

“Why are you coming to me with this? Why did you not call a meeting with the other captains?”

“Because I trust you, Athena, to use this knowledge discreetly. We don’t want to cause any unnecessary panic. As many strides as we’ve made, being out on the force or as a firefighter still isn’t easy, and something like this would only make it worse.” 

Athena nodded her understanding, inwardly cringing just thinking about how to tell Hen she had to watch her back even more closely than she already did. There was also Officer Williams to worry about. 

Thank God Michael was an architect. 

The Chief stayed for a few more minutes before leaving Athena alone in her office with heavy thoughts and a heavier heart. 

Some days, she worried it was getting to be too much.

***

“Not that I don’t like seeing you, but aren’t you supposed to be at the station?”

Buck stood up when Eddie approached the little wire table outside their usual cafe, leaning a thigh against it, clapped Eddie’s back when they hugged their greeting. 

“I told Cap I needed an hour.” Eddie took the seat across from him as Buck sat back down, reached for the glass of water Buck had already ordered for him. 

“To see me?”

“I wasn’t specific.”

Eddie hadn’t had to be. There were only two reasons Eddie would ask for time away during a shift, and Christopher was at school. More surprising was the fact that Bobby had allowed it after refusing to say why Buck had taken the day off in the first place.

“You didn’t tell me you were calling out today,” Eddie said after a few awkward seconds of silence, Buck looking out at the street rather than at him. “Normally I get a head’s up.”

“Yeah, no, I know,” Buck’s head bobbed in agreement, but he didn’t say anything else. Eddie shifted in his seat, coughed. 

“Look, Buck—”

“Bread?” A pretty, teal-haired waitress with vibrant pink eyeshadow asked, holding up a basket in one hand. 

“Please,” Buck said, reaching out to take it from her. She set down two little plates she’d also been holding. 

“Are you two ready to order?” She clasped her hands in front of her, giving a polite smile. 

“Yeah,” Buck said, at the same time that Eddie shook his head and said, “Not yet.” The two men exchanged a look, Buck smiling uncomfortably. 

“Okay,” the waitress glanced between them, smile dimming for just a second before it was back full force. “I’ll check back in a couple of minutes.”

She disappeared with a swish of her ponytail, leaving Buck and Eddie alone again. 

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” Eddie asked, when the silence between them had dragged on too long again. The question finally got Buck to look at him, face pinching together in that way it did when he wasn’t sure how to explain.

At least Buck didn’t try to lie to him. Instead, after a few seconds of holding Eddie’s gaze, he sighed, shoulders slumping, looked away again.

“You mean you haven’t figured it out yet?”

“I know you knew Terrence Garson.” For how long, Eddie didn’t know, just like he had no idea how close they’d been. Buck had never mentioned it. 

Buck’s laugh was bitter, left a bad aftertaste in Eddie’s mouth.

“Yeah, I knew him. I, uh… I dated him.”

“Oh.”

Eddie said it because there was nothing else he could think of to say in response. It was the wrong thing, apparently, because Buck’s face began to crumple. 

“See, this is why I didn’t tell you,” he gestured between them, “I knew it would make you look at me differently.”

That snapped Eddie’s attention back to Buck, out of his spiralling thoughts. 

“Differently? Buck, you think I care about you being--that you’re…” Eddie trailed off, unsure how to finish that. Buck wasn’t gay. The playboy days Eddie had heard about when he first started at the 118 had been over before they met, but Eddie had seen Buck date. It had been a few years since anyone stuck around very long, but they’d always been women.

“You can’t even say it,” Buck said, leaning back in his chair and dragging a hand over his face. 

“Because I don’t know what it is!” The words came out louder than Eddie meant them to. “I don’t care, it’s just…”

“It changes things.” There was a sadness to Buck’s words that made Eddie think he expected the worst.

Eddie didn’t know how to explain that what he was thinking couldn’t be further from it. 

“I just don’t understand why you didn’t tell me,” he said again, helplessly. “All these years, so much time…”

“Eddie, come on. You and I… If you’d known I was into men, would we have gotten so close?”

“Yes!” Eddie thumped his fist on the table. “We would have gotten _ closer_, Buck, because--”

“How are we doing now?”

Their waitress appeared again, smile a little less cheery with her second trip to the table. Or maybe it was the scene Eddie was causing. Eddie barely looked at her, though, because Buck was staring at him, mouth fallen open, eyes wide.

His phone beeped, a text from the Captain. 

“I’m sorry,” he said, pushing his chair back as he stood. “I actually have to go. Buck, we’ll finish this conversation later.”

“Eddie, wait—” Buck started to stand, reaching out for him.

“Bobby needs me,” Eddie said, stepping back and holding up his phone. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Unless you call out again.”

“We need to finish talking about this…”

“Oh, now you want to talk about it? Well, you waited years. You can wait a couple more days.” 

As unfair as Eddie knew he was being, he still felt nothing but relief as he fled.

***

Athena was already at the scene when the 118 pulled up, sirens dying abruptly as the engine was cut off. Bobby hopped down from the cab, approaching his wife with his hands on his hips. 

“Another one?”

“Looks like it.” Athena’s lips pressed together, mouth thinning. She glanced over her shoulder at the scene behind her, taped off and full of forensics officers. 

“You know why we were called?”

“There was a fire, but it was put out with extinguishers and water about ten minutes ago.”

“Coincidence, or…?”

“Oh, no.” Athena shook her head. “This is a meeting spot for a group of firefighters.” 

“LAFD?” Bobby’s eyebrows went up as his stomach sank. “And the victim?”

Placing a hand on Bobby’s shoulder, Athena gave it a squeeze. “Not one of yours.” 

“A firefighter down is a firefighter down, Athena.” 

“Her name was Benson. Justine Benson, of the 135.” 

The name sounded familiar. Bobby frowned, and Athena sighed. 

“She put together LAFD’s LGBT support group a few years back. Openly bisexual. Bobby, you need to keep an eye on Hen.”

“Hen? Why?”

“Because,” Athena said, glancing over Bobby’s shoulder to where his team stood around uncertainly, “it looks like she might be a target.” 


	4. hurts to want everything and nothing at the same time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of conversation and very little action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was a little behind, but this chapter catches me up to my word goals! I hope everyone keeps enjoying this fic. I am having a blast writing it.

When Maddie opened the front door to her house that night and stepped inside, she half-expected to find her brother drunk again. Instead, she found him pacing her living room, hands switching between crossed over his chest and on his hips as he moved. 

“Well, I guess I should be grateful you didn’t clean out my wine,” she joked, leaning against the wall, keys dangling from one hand. She twirled them once, hung them up on the little rack she and Chimney used to keep track of them. Buck shot her a glare, unamused.

“Maddie, I need to talk to you.”

Finally, Maddie thought, relief flooding her. Nothing good happened when Buck kept things bottled inside, but if he was ready to talk, she could start playing Big Sister and fix things. 

“Of course, Buck.” She moved to sit down on the couch, slipping her shoes off and curling her legs under herself. Maddie patted the space next to her, giving Buck what she hoped was an encouraging smile.

The older they got, the less Maddie had to wear her Big Sister hat. It felt a little rusty, but she remembered the moves. She gave Buck’s arm a pat when he sat down, scooting a little closer to him. 

“So what’s up?”

“I.” Buck paused, opened his mouth, closed it again. Maddie gave his arm a gentle squeeze, and he swallowed. “Maddie, you know, sometimes… I mean. Okay.” 

Taking a deep breath, Buck turned to look at her. The idea that Maddie would reject for him this was one Buck told himself was ridiculous, but the thought wouldn’t leave him alone. Maddie wasn’t all that he had anymore, but she was still his sister. She’d known him longer than anyone else, knew him better than anyone else. 

What if she was fine with it, but didn’t forgive him for not telling her sooner? After the way Eddie had reacted…

“Evan.” Maddie’s voice was gentle at his side, and her eyes were warm, familiar, when he met them. “Whatever it is, you know I’m here for you. I’m always here for you.”

“I know,” Buck lied, nodding. “I know. Okay, so, here it goes. The reason I never mentioned Terrence to you was because we--because he--because I--technically it wasn’t dating, but it…”

“Whoa,” Maddie’s eyebrows shot up and she dropped her hand for just a second. As it fell, so did Buck’s face. She shook her head, reaching out again and putting her hand on his shoulder. “No, no. Surprised whoa, not bad whoa. And only surprised because I didn’t think you’d ever _ admit _ it.”

Buck paused, features crinkling in confusion. 

“Wait, you _ knew_?”

“Of course I knew! Buck, I’m your _ sister_, and I love you, but you are _ not _ subtle.” 

“I can be!”

Buck deflated at the expression of disbelief that flickered over his sister’s face before she hid it, and his shoulders slumped.

“No, I guess I can’t.”

“You really can’t. But it’s okay. It’s charming.”

“Okay, I really don’t need patronizing comfort right now.”

Maddie sighed, dropping her hand again. 

“So what do you need?”

Buck groaned, burying his face in his hands. He shrugged. Sighing again, Maddie started rubbing his back.

“I told Eddie.”

Her hand paused.

“You came out to Eddie before me?”

“He called me to find out why I didn’t come to work! And, I don’t know, he’s Eddie, and—”

“And you’re completely in love with him?”

“I am not.” 

“Oh, Evan.” Maddie’s hand began making small circles, her other arm reaching around to cup his cheek and pull him into her chest. “You totally are.”

“Fine,” he grumbled, nuzzling against her shoulder. “I’m in love with Eddie, and I told him about Terrence, and…” 

Buck’s voice trailed off, and Maddie stiffened.

“Don’t tell me he was an asshole about it.”

“No, no.” Buck shook his head, lifting it again to stare at the floor. “No, I think… I think Eddie loves me too? He said something… But then he had to go, because Bobby texted him, and now I don’t know.”

Maddie took this in, parsing through it silently as her hand kept rubbing Buck’s back. 

“So, then,” she asked slowly, once she thought she understood everything, “what’s the problem?”

Her answer was another groan.

“Super helpful,” she sighed. “That’s super helpful, Buck.”

Her brother just groaned again.

***

It was always a treat when Athena ate at the station. Hen beamed when she saw the woman she considered her best friend sitting at the table closest to the kitchen area, so that she could talk to her husband. 

Her smile faded with their conversation as she approached, and Hen glanced between them. 

“Y’all weren’t talking about me, were you?” She caught the look they shared, and gave them one of her own. “You were.”

“Only indirectly,” Bobby reassured her. Another look from his wife seemed to dismiss him from the conversation, however, because he turned away then, going to the other side of the kitchen and opened a cupboard. 

“A little more than indirectly,” Athena corrected, smile gentle and voice quiet. “Actually, Hen, there’s something important I need to talk to _ you _ about.”

“Ah, alright.” Hen glanced around, but no one except for Bobby was around. The Captain must have asked them to clear out, she realized. “Must be serious.”

She tried for a grin that probably looked about as convincing as the one Athena gave her. 

“I’m afraid it is.” 

“Okay.” 

Hen slowly moved over to the couch, sat down without ever taking her eyes off of Athena. The other woman joined her without hesitation, reaching out to take one of her hands.

“Hen, I need you to promise me that you won’t go anywhere when you’re on a call without at least one other person right there with you, and preferably more than one.”

“Okay,” Hen said, looking down at their hands and then up at Athena’s face, brows up. “Is there a reason I’m being told this, and not anyone else?”

Even before Athena said it, though, Hen knew the reason. Her stomach was twisting as she watched her friend’s mouth open.

“Justine Benson marks the third victim that’s been openly not heterosexual. Justine was bisexual.”

“‘Thena, everyone knew Justine was bi. She’s the reason we have a support group.” 

“I know. But Hen, listen to what I’m saying. Everyone knew Garson and Perks weren’t straight too. Now all three of them are dead.”

“And you think because I’m a lesbian, married to a woman, that I might be next.”

“I think you’re potentially in danger. The Chief doesn’t want to make an official announcement yet, but it is looking like whoever is committing these murders is specifically going after ‘out’ first responders.” 

“I thought about just removing you from work until we catch this guy,” Bobby finally joined the conversation from behind the stove. “But Benson wasn’t at work when she went missing. It’s why she wasn’t reported.”

“You think they took her from her home?”

“Given the killer’s previous M.O., they think she was lured by someone pretending to need help.”

“I see.” 

Hen’s first instinct was to say that she just wouldn’t help anyone outside of work, but it wasn’t in her to do that, and everyone there knew it. Instead, she nodded, standing up again.

“I’m not being taken off duty?” she checked.

“Not at the moment.”

“Good,” she said, looking Bobby directly in the eyes, “because I shouldn’t be punished because of what some asshole is doing.”

“Hen, that wouldn’t be…”

Hen ignored him, turning to Athena. 

“When the Chief makes a statement, I hope that it includes nothing but support for the community being targeted.”

“Of course,” Athena agreed, bowing her head slightly, “but Hen…”

Holding up her hand, Hen shook her head. 

“I get it, Athena, and I’m grateful you told me. Now, I want to go call my wife.”

Wordless, Bobby and Athena let her go. 

***

“Dad!” 

Christopher might have grown three inches and the beginnings of peach fuzz on his upper lip, but even nearing twelve, he was still Eddie’s little boy. Eddie’s arms opened for his son, wrapping around his thin frame and giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Hey, kiddo,” he said, letting him go to straighten again, “How was your night at Abuela’s?”

“Fine. She let me stay up late.”

Eddie’s grandmother laughed without remorse at the frown she received for that information.

“On a school night, Abuela?”

“Oh, it was only _media hora_, Edmundo, calm down.” 

“Still. That messes with his routine—”

“Daaad,” Christopher whined, grabbing his wrist and tugging at it. “I really wanted to watch the show.”

“What show?”

“An educational one,” his Abuela said, exchanging a smile with Christopher. “It was about trains.”

Eddie wasn’t sure he bought it, but he was willing to let it slide if whatever it was had Christopher smiling like that. 

“Fine. Just this one time, I guess it’s okay.”

He ruffled his son’s curls, kissed his Abuela on the cheek before ushering him towards the car. 

“Is Buck coming over tonight?” Christopher asked, once they were both in and buckled, Eddie with the engine running. He paused.

“Probably not tonight.”

“He hasn’t been over in a couple of nights.”

“He’s...sick.”

“We should bring him soup!”

Eddie laughed, shaking his head slightly. Of course Christopher would want to help Buck if he thought he was sick. Eddie should have considered that before he used that excuse.

“I have to check and see if he’s up for company, Chris.”

“Dad, it’s us. Buck loves us. He probably wishes we were there right now.” 

“You think so?”

“Duh,” Christopher told him, rolling his eyes at Eddie and grinning. Eddie couldn’t help but grin back, reaching over to ruffle his curls again.

“Hey, Christopher…” Eddie stared at his hands on the wheel, trying to find the words. “Buck and I…”

“Dad, I know Buck’s your special friend.” Well, there went finding words. Eddie gaped at his son, who shrugged a little. “Abuela thinks you should marry him.”

“I see.” Eddie mulled this over as he pulled away from the curb. He was going to have to have a talk with his grandmother. 

“I think you should too.”

“It’s not that easy, Chris.”

“Why not?”

Eddie didn’t have an answer for that. Hell, he still didn’t know how he and Buck were going to finish their earlier conversation. He was surprised Buck wasn’t blowing up his phone with an effort to do just that.

“I think it could be that easy,” Christopher said when Eddie didn’t respond. “You should just ask.”

“You know, buddy, maybe you’re right.” Eddie doubted it. Nothing in his life ever was. 

Well, nothing except his friendship with Buck, which had happened so naturally it felt like breathing.

Maybe Christopher was right. 

“So can we bring Buck soup?”

“Sure,” Eddie huffed out a laugh, “Why not?”

***

As a married woman, Athena used her husband’s name. As a new Captain on the force, she used the name that she had built her career on. 

To her friends, though, she was just Athena, and Elaine Maynard had always been a friend.

“Athena,” she greeted, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek. Unfortunately, the one downside to Athena’s promotion and precinct transfer meant they didn’t see each other as often. 

“Elaine. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“You know why I’m here, Athena.” 

“The murders.” Athena nodded, going around her desk to pick up one of the files on it. “Third one in less than a week, and from what I understand, we have no idea who’s behind it.”

“Exactly. Chief is putting off making an announcement, but I think that’s a bad idea.”

“And why exactly do you think that?” Athena opened the file, glancing over it despite knowing exactly what it said. Thirteen stab wounds. Forensics matched the wounds to what appeared to be rescue shears from an EMT or paramedic truck. Nothing linking the victim to any of the others except her job and her sexuality. 

Athena felt like throwing up. 

“It puts people in danger.” 

“If we make an announcement too early, we might lose a potential advantage,” Athena pointed out. “So far, the killer doesn’t know we’ve noticed a pattern.”

“And you’re willing to risk the lives of your openly gay officers for that advantage?”

“I’m not risking anybody’s life, Elaine. I’ve got safety measures in place, strict orders to never approach a scene solo or leave a partner unattended. Any partner.” 

“Smart. But is it enough?”

Athena paused. Was it enough? Perhaps Elaine was right, and the Chief was being too cautious. They didn’t know if the targets would continue to be first responders. 

“So what do you suggest we do?”

Elaine looked over her shoulder, then shut the door behind her. 

“I have a friend who owes me a favor.”

Athena raised an eyebrow. “A _ friend?_”

“Friend, old flame. They’re a profiler for the FBI. I’m thinking about calling them.” Elaine put both her hands on Athena’s desk, leaning forward and lowering her voice. Arms crossing, Athena leaned a hip against her desk. 

“And you’re telling me this why?”

“Because if I call them in, I’m gonna want you to back me with the Chief.”

Athena met Elaine’s cool blue eyes with her own determined gaze, her chin notching up a little.

“Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please let me know what you think.


	5. gonna decimate them like you did to me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The FBI arrives, and the killer claims another victim.

To say that the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department was unhappy would be like saying third degree burns stung. The Chief was livid, and from the shouting coming from behind closed office doors, there would be no hiding it. 

Athena was grateful that she was on the side of the door where the yelling wasn’t happening, although it did mean that she was the one entertaining Elaine’s profiler. 

Agent Cooper gave her a tight smile. She was about an inch taller than Athena, with long black hair, a surprising amount of freckles, and brown eyes that hinted at an Asian ancestry, and when she shook Athena’s hand, her grip was firm. 

Athena had always respected a firm handshake. She smiled back, although it didn’t last. 

“Elaine tells me you two went to college together,” she said, to make conversation, voice pitched slightly higher than normal so that she could be heard over the Chief’s yells. Agent Cooper nodded.

“We met in the dorms as freshmen. The only two women interested in law enforcement at UCLA in the early eighties.”

“You two went in pretty different directions, though.” 

“Elaine could have been recruited if she wanted.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

The two women fell silent at the same time that the yelling stop. A second later, the Chief’s door flew open, Elaine on the other side. She beamed at Agent Cooper, expression fading into something a little more serious when she looked at Athena.

“I have your back,” Athena assured the older woman, who nodded, relief flickering in her eyes. “This was necessary.”

“I agree,” Cooper said, loud enough that the Chief was sure to hear her. “You should have called us in after the second victim, if I’m being completely honest.”

“It takes three to make a pattern,” the Chief grumbled, looking between all three of them with a resignation that would have been more amusing if the situation weren’t so serious. Overwhelmed resignation; the Chief was no match for three strong-willed women.

“Then it should have been you calling me, instead of Elaine. Or if not me, another team.” 

“Speaking of, where is your team?” Elaine shut the door behind Cooper and Athena as they stepped further into the office. 

“Back at the hotel for now,” Cooper explained. “We can’t actually start our investigation until we have jurisdiction from the Chief.” 

All three women looked expectantly in the Chief’s direction. 

“Fine. Permission granted. Do I need to fill out any paperwork?” 

“I’ll leave it on your desk. For now, I’m going to call my team and get them over here so that we can start reviewing the case with your people.” 

“You already have an idea of what it’s about, of course?” Athena posed it as a question, as if any answer other than ‘yes’ would have been tolerated. 

“Victims are all openly members of the LGBT community, as well as being first responders,” Cooper nodded. “Ages vary, although they’ve all been on their respective forces for under ten years. No correlating physical type, and whether they’re gay or bisexual doesn’t seem to matter, although so far there hasn’t been a victim that was transgender or lesbian.” 

Impressed, Athena leaned back against the Chief’s desk and crossed her arms. 

“Do you have any ideas who might be behind it?”

“We’re looking at someone resentful of their openness, possibly in the closet themselves, although it can be dangerous to assume that. The fact that they’re targeting first responders leads me to believe that they might have been a failed candidate for one or both of the targeted careers.”

“So we should be looking for someone who has applied recently to the training programs and been rejected?”

“Possibly multiple times. But, look, I really want my whole team here before we debrief any further.”

“Of course,” Athena nodded, exchanging a look with Elaine. “We should get our teams together too. I imagine, Chief, you want Captain Maynard and I working with Agent Cooper?” 

“If I said no, would you listen?” 

Athena didn’t even dignify the damn fool with a response. 

*** 

Maddie felt no surprise at opening her door to find Eddie and Christopher on the other side. Even if Buck hadn’t told her about their lunch the day before, she wouldn’t have been surprised to find them on the other side of her door, as long as Buck was there.

“Hey, guys,” she greeted, flashing a bright smile at the man and his son. “Here for Buck?”

“Dad said he was sick, so we brought him soup.” Christoper took a couple of steps into the apartment and looked up at Maddie. Eddie gave her a sheepish grin, holding up a paper bag that obviously had something heavy at the bottom.

“It’s tomato red pepper from _ Antonia’s_,” he explained. “Buck’s favorite.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet.” Maddie reached for the bag, taking it from Eddie with only a little necessary force in her yank. She put a hand on Christopher’s back, looking down at him. “Tell you what, how about you and I go put this in a bowl for him, see if I have any crackers or bread. Your dad can check on Buck while we do that.” 

“Okay,” Christopher nodded eagerly, allowed Maddie to coax him towards her kitchen. The sound of his crutches had Buck looking up. Momentary surprise, chased by panic, smoothed over into a wide beam.

“Hey, Chris.”

“Hi, Buck,” he paused to wave, “Dad and I brought you soup. Maddie and I are gonna find you crackers.”

“Well, that sounds really nice,” Buck said, standing up so that he could give Christopher a quick hug. The boy returned it tightly, cheek smushing against his shoulder. When Christopher pulled back, he patted Buck’s cheek.

“We’ll take care of you.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Buck laughed, looking up. The sound faded when he caught Eddie’s eyes, and he straightened slowly, rubbing his palms against jean-clad thighs. 

“Hey.” Eddie took a couple of steps forward, and Maddie took that as her cue to hustle Christopher along towards the kitchen. 

Once they were gone, Buck shifted his weight from foot to foot, shoving his hands in his pockets, pulling them out again. When he looked back at Eddie, the other man was a lot closer. 

“I figured we should finish that conversation.”

“You sure you want to? You seemed pretty mad when you stormed off yesterday.” 

“I didn’t storm off,” Eddie rolled his eyes, “I had a text from Bobby and I had to go. And you still weren’t at work when I left today.”

“Yeah, I...wasn’t sure if me being back was a good idea.”

Eddie reached out, putting a hand on Buck’s shoulder, nodded towards the couch. “Can we?”

Nodding, Buck took a seat. When Eddie sat down next to him, he made sure to do it close enough that their knees bumped, took the fact that Buck didn’t pull away as a positive sign. 

“So, uh, what did you want to say, exactly?”

Buck wasn’t looking at him, though. Less of a good sign. His fingers were tangled in his lap and he stared down at them like a scolded school boy. 

Eddie struggled with how to begin. Placing a hand on Buck’s thigh seemed like a good place. At least it had Buck’s attention on a part of him, if not his face. 

“Well, first of all… I should probably admit that you were right. Me finding out you’re attracted to men does change things.” Eddie felt Buck begin to stiffen, pulling away, and he rushed to continued. “It changes them because it gives me hope.”

Seconds ticked by, and then Buck asked, timid, “Hope?”

“Hope.” Eddie squeezed Buck’s thigh. “Hope because it means that this family that you and Chris and I have could actually be a _ family_. Hope that it means I won’t have to lose you someday to some beautiful woman who can give you children of your own.”

Finally, Buck was looking at him. Staring at him with wide blue eyes and an obscenely open pink mouth. Eddie’s hips shifted a little. 

“Eddie, you know I think of Chris as mine,” Buck began, then paused, licked his lips, shook his head with a huff of laughter. “Which was so not your point.”

“It was partly my point. Just a little bit.” Eddie held two fingers of his other hand up, centimeters apart. “But no, it wasn’t my whole point.” 

Buck hesitated, placed his hand on top of Eddie’s. 

“I’m in love with you, you know?”

Eddie hadn’t known, not for sure. Hearing it confirmed made his shoulders feel about a million times lighter. He dropped his other hand, covering Buck’s.

“I’m in love with you.” 

Eddie had seen Buck flush before, with embarrassment, with pleasure from praise--but there was something about the pink to his cheeks, the red of his ears, the bashful smile on his face that made him bring his hand up again, cup his jaw so that he could lean in and kiss him.

As always, Buck met him half-way.

***

“I don’t like this.”

Normally, Rachel Bennett would roll her eyes at her partner’s nerves, but in that case, she had to agree with the rookie. They sat in their van, staring at the unlit alley they’d been called to. If there was someone in need of help down it, they couldn’t be seen, even with the headlights that flooded the narrow opening and cast shadows a little further down.

If the alley hadn’t been wedged between a restaurant closed for maintenance and a club that had been shut down, maybe it would have been less ominous. As it was, they had managed to be called to the one silent spot in all of Los Angeles. 

“Officer Garson and Firefighter Perks were both taken on a suspect 9-1-1 call,” Rachel’s partner continued, his voice cracking slightly. “What if this is one of those?”

“Well, then, it’s a good thing there are two of us, isn’t it, Jacobs?” 

“But, Bennett—”

“Look, if there is someone down there who needs our help, and we leave because we’re scared, do we really deserve to do this job?”

“I signed on to be an EMT so that I could help people, not get murdered.”

“You’re not going to be murdered.” Rachel unbuckled her seatbelt, opened the door. “C’mon, grab a flashlight and the kit.” 

She expected a little more resistance, but Jacobs agreed without much further argument. They stepped out of the van, leaving the headlights on for visibility, and he trailed after her. Inch by inch, they left the safety of the lights, stepping into shadows. Jacobs swept the flashlight over the ground, but there was nothing. 

No body. No victim. No injured party.

Some of Jacobs’s earlier apprehension was starting to creep up on Rachel. 

“You know,” she began, “I think you’re right—”

The needle jammed into her neck, and she collapsed.

***

There was nothing unusual about Buck and Eddie arriving at the station together. In fact, it was so unusual that it took Hen a moment to see what was different.

“Uh, why are you two holding hands?” 

Rather than let go and jerk away, like Hen half-expected one or both of them to do, Buck and Eddie seemed to lean into each other a little, sharing a look that Hen recognized all too well.

“Because we’re together,” Buck said, chin raising slightly. “Eddie and me, we’re dating.”

Hen didn’t mean to start laughing. Really, she didn’t, and she regretted it as soon as the noise burst from her, because it made Buck’s face crumple, anger flicker over Eddie’s.

“I thought you’d be happy for us,” he said.

“I am,” Hen said, slightly breathless from her hysteria. “I really am, except that you two picked the worst possible time to get your act together.”

Buck’s hand tightened on Eddie’s, knuckles whitening. 

“Why is that?”

It was Bobby who answered, causing both men to turn around when he spoke.

“Because the Chief of Police thinks these murders are connected to the victims’ sexuality. We’re happy for you, Eddie, Buck, but…”

“But we’re also worried,” Chimney said. “You two could be in danger. _ Hen’s _ in danger.” Chim paused, then added, “Also, I’m a little upset Maddie didn’t text me about this.” 

“Now is not the time, Chimney,” Hen told him. “But when this is all over and I _ don’t _ die, you and Bobby both owe me two hundred bucks.” 

Groans from both men had Buck and Eddie glancing between them in confusion.

“Uh, sorry, why do you both owe Hen money?” Buck asked.

“Because,” This time, Hen’s laughter was genuine, “I won the bet!”


	6. if your hopes should pass away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maddie gets another disturbing phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have officially written more for this fic than I have written for any other fic, ever. 
> 
> Thank you for all the support and encouragement. I'd like in particular to dedicate this chapter to users/readers **Bathenafan14**, **Starlight00001**, and **Kay++southern** for leaving comments on almost every chapter. Your questions will be answered, I promise!

“How’s your brother?”

Josh asked the question while Maddie was still getting herself situated: setting her coffee down, settling into her chair and adjusting the height. She turned to look at him as she slipped on her headset.

“Buck?”

“Unless you have another brother that I don’t know about,” Josh snarked back, causing Maddie to roll her eyes and turn around again.

“He’s fine. Or,” Maddie amended, “he will be fine.”

“Did he tell you what had him so upset?”

Something about the way Josh asked the question had Maddie thinking that he already knew the answer. Rather than give him the satisfaction of looking at him, Maddie scanned the screen in front of her, waiting patiently for her first call. 

“Besides the fact that he knew Garson?”

The silence behind her was telling. Maddie almost did turn around again, but then she heard him ask what the emergency was, and realized that he’d taken a call. The conversation was tabled until they both had a minute again, and Maddie was more than fine with that. She wasn’t exactly eager to discuss her _ brother’s _ personal life.

Even if she was thrilled for him and Eddie. 

She wondered how soon it would be until Christopher was calling her Auntie. Maddie could handle being an Auntie. Jury was still out on Mom, but Auntie…

Maddie’s own line ringing jolted her out of her thoughts. She answered without thought. 

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” 

“Oh, it’s you again.”

“I’m sorry?” Maddie faltered, glancing over her shoulder at Josh, whose back was still turned to her. 

“Do you have a name?”

“I, um…” Maddie paused, face scrunching up a little in confusion. “Maddie. My name is Maddie Han.” 

“Han. You Asian?”

“_Excuse _ me?” The sneer in the caller’s voice had Maddie’s back stiffening, slight anger entering her tone. 

“There’s been another murder,” the caller said without answering her, sounding almost bored. 

Maddie could barely hold back her shocked gasp. She should have recognized the voice. Gesturing for Josh to come closer, she quietly put the call on speaker. 

“Okay. Can you tell me where I’ll find the body?” Maddie pulled out her phone as well, sent a text to Athena with the address when it was given to her. 

Her hands were shaking when she hung the phone up. 

“God, why does that keep happening to me?”

“Better you than me. Or a newbie.” 

“You’re not helping, Josh.”

“I’m not trying to.”

Well, Maddie thought with a sigh as she answered the next call, at least Josh never changed. 

***

Athena looked down at her phone, then up at Elaine, who raised an expectant eyebrow.

“That was Maddie Han, from down at the call center. She got another phone call from the killer.” Athena tried to pitch her voice low, to keep it from being heard by Agent Cooper.

In the middle of her speech to her team, the profiler paused, tilting her head as though she’d heard anyway. 

“Another victim? Was anyone reported missing?”

Apparently, she had heard. Athena was impressed by the other woman’s ability to split her attention. 

“Last night,” Elaine answered before Athena could. “We got a call from an EMT saying that his partner had disappeared from another bogus scene.”

“Why didn’t you mention it to me?” 

Or me, Athena thought, wondering how the news hadn’t reached her before now. 

“The M.O. was different. The EMT was attacked too, and when he woke up, his partner was gone. Nobody else has even been injured before.” Elaine hesitated, then added, “Also, Rachel Bennett, the missing EMT, is transgender, but she’s straight.”

“Is she openly transgender?” 

Elaine shrugged. 

“People who know her know, but she doesn’t wear a pride button on her uniform, or anything, and she’s transitioned.” 

Agent Cooper hummed, nodded at one of her team members, who wrote something down on a yellow legal pad with a nod of their own. That was another thing impressing Athena, if she was being honest. The silent communication of Cooper’s small team reminded her of Bobby’s crew of firefighters. A well-oiled machine. 

“You said that her partner reported it?”

“Yes,” Elaine nodded. “The call was to an alley in a run down area of L.A. where a lot of the building have been closed down. Jacobs said he told her they should stay in the truck, but she insisted they check it out. He got hit on the head, and when he woke up, she was gone.”

“He in the hospital?”

“Nah, he got checked out but he was fine. He’s home for the day, though.”

“We’re going to need to talk to him.”

“He said he didn’t see anyone,” Elaine said, frowning. Athena frowned too, although that was more at all the information she hadn’t had. She wasn’t a fan of being out of the loop, and couldn’t understand why Elaine hadn’t told her. 

“Sometimes going over the event again can help a person remember details they previously forgot. Either way, talking to this Jacobs can only help our case.”

“Right.” Elaine nodded. “I’ll see if I can get him into the station today.”

“If not, I can go with someone to interview him,” Athena said. “In the meantime, I want to go check out this body. We don’t even know for sure yet if the victim is Rachel Bennett.”

“I’ll go with you.” Elaine stood up as Athena did. “I’ll call forensics on the way.” 

As the two women left Elaine’s office and the profiling team in it, strides matching as they walked down the hall, Athena turned to her friend. 

“Why didn’t I hear about Rachel Bennett going missing?”

“You didn’t?” Surprised flickered over Elaine’s features. “The only reason I didn’t bring it up this morning is because I thought you’d already know.”

That answered that question, at least. Athena nodded.

“I hadn’t.”

“I gathered that from the shock on your face when I brought it up in there,” Elaine jerked her head back towards her office. “It was some of my people that ended up on scene, Athena. You weren’t intentionally kept out of the loop.”

“Good, because that would be unacceptable.”

“I agree. The city needs you on this. You know I don’t say it lightly when I tell you that you’re one of the LAPD’s best. We need to solve this before too many more people get hurt.”

Thinking of Hen, of Williams, Athena nodded. She didn’t want anyone to be hurt, of course, but a small, selfish part of her also specifically didn’t want the people she cared about to be hurt. 

“You really think this body is Bennett’s?”

Elaine’s lips were thin, expression grim, as she nodded. 

“Yeah,” Athena nodded too, just as solemn, “me, too.”

***

The forensics team arrived before them, the coroner showed up not too long afterwards.

“It’s definitely Rachel Bennett,” the man said from under a thick moustach that didn’t look quite as heavy as the bags under his eyes. 

“Photo ID confirms?”

“Don’t need it to. I know her. Trained her husband.” 

Athena ran a hand over her face. The problem with first responders being targeted is that every damn other responder in the city was affected. There might have been thousands of them, but it was a network. They were _ all _ connected. 

“Cause of death?”

“I’ll have to get her back to the morgue to confirm, but it appears to be multiple stab wounds.”

“Thirteen?” She asked the question even though she didn’t really need to.

“Thirteen.”

Elaine was off to the side, talking to the forensics team, but she caught Athena’s eye when she looked over to her, nodding slightly. 

It was time to make a statement.

***

Maddie was already curled up under a throw on the couch when Chimney unlocked the door after his shift, cupping a mug of tea in both hands. Probably not caffeinated, given that it wasn’t even six in the morning.

Perhaps it was a little selfish of him, but Chimney’s favorite shifts were the ones where he and Maddie both had overnights, crawled into bed in the morning to sleep it away. Maybe it was just hope that the tea wasn’t caffeinated.

“Rough shift?” He took his jacket and shoes off before joining her on the couch, tugging a corner of the throw over his own lap. 

“Ugh.” Maddie took another sip of her tea, leaning into Chimney a little. He draped an arm over her shoulders. “You know how I got that call the other day from the serial killer, and it led you to the first victim?” 

“Garson. Right. What about it?” Chimney had a feeling that he already knew, though.

“They called again.”

Man, sometimes he hated being right. 

“Another victim?”

Maddie nodded.

“And you answered the phone.”

Again, his wife nodded. Chimney used the arm around her to pull her a little closer, kiss the top of her head.

“I’m sorry, Maddie.”

“I was so happy this morning, what with Buck and Eddie finally declaring their undying love—”

“Yeah, thanks for telling me about that, by the way. I owe Hen two hundred bucks because I lost that bet.”

Maddie pinched his side, and he squirmed, but didn’t pull away. If anything, Chimney tugged her a little closer.

“It wasn’t my news to share.” 

“Right, right. Buck gets to make the announcements about his own life.” He’d heard that argument between his wife and her brother more than once. 

“Anyway,” Maddie continued, “this is the second time I’ve had to talk to this...creep. And I’ve been keeping track, and that makes four victims.”

There was more to it than that, but Chimney wasn’t so sure he should tell Maddie. Not when she was so happy that Buck and Eddie were finally together. 

If he didn’t, though, she would probably be angry about having to find out from someone else. Either way, she was going to worry about her brother.

“Maddie,” Chimney began slowly, “Listen. All four victims, well… They’ve all been openly gay or bisexual.”

“What?” Maddie stared, uncomprehending, at her husband. Then his words sank in and her eyes went wide. “Oh, God. Chim, Buck was just telling me he’s going to come out so that he and Eddie…”

“I already told him maybe it’s not such a good idea to throw a parade just yet.”

“Is that supposed to stop me from worrying?”

“No,” Chimney shook his head. “Of course not.”

It wasn’t going to stop any of them from worrying. Not until it was all over.

Hopefully, it would be soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please let me know what you think!


	7. static keep cracklin'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A press conference. Buck and Eddie fill out some forms. The author posts a filler chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh I know I missed a couple of days, but I promise you my word count/chapters are still on track! It was just hard to get someplace to write while being so busy!  
This fic WILL be completed by the end of November, I promise you.

“A part of me feels like we shouldn’t even be outside.” As if to emphasize her words, Karen shivered, pulled her cardigan tighter around herself. She glanced around the sunny park, as though someone were going to leap out and attack them. 

Hen knew, but reined it in. She was trying to be normal for Denny. 

“All the victims were attacked when they were on the job, helping somebody. Look around, baby.” Hen found her wife’s hand, gave it a squeeze. “There’s nobody here but other moms with their kids. I’m not in uniform. We’re safe.” 

She put as much reassurance as she could into the words, gave Karen’s hand another squeeze. Karen squeezed back, a hint of a smile on her face. Not much, but a beginning.

Good. That meant she was starting to feel reassured. Hen was doing her wifely duty. 

Now if only she could reassure herself. She forced a smile in return, turned her head when she heard her son call for her. Not seeing him immediately, she stood up, heartbeat quickening.

“Mama!” He called her again.

“What is it?” Denny was under the dome-like climbing structure he loved so much when Hen spotted him. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief to see that he was unharmed.

“Watch!”

While Hen’s eyes were trained on him, Denny scrambled up from underneath until he was dangling from the very center, then dropped down. The whole thing took less than a minute; Hen made sure to whistle when he landed.

“Very cool. You be careful when you do that!”

“I am!”

“See how many times you can do it in five minutes, then.”

Hen sat back down on the bench, turning to Karen with a laugh that her wife echoed. The laughter faded from her face when she looked at Hen again. 

“Promise me that you’ll be careful, Hen. Until they catch this guy, promise me you won’t do any of your usual crazy stunts.”

“Karen…”

“_Promise _ me.”

Taking her wife’s hand again, Hen brought it up to her mouth, kissing the back of it. 

“I promise.”

***

Since becoming Captain of her own beat, Athena had gotten used to the occasional press conference. She had learned how to deal with cameras flashing in her face, reporters shouting out questions about whatever case the media was sensationalizing that week. Sometimes, they were even useful. 

Athena hoped this one would be, but she had her doubts. Part of her worried that by doing it, they would lose any advantage they had against whoever was out there, killing her people.

She stood in her uniform behind the Chief of Police, shoulders back, spine stiff, chin up. Elaine stood next to her; on the Chief’s other side was the Fire Chief. Agent Cooper and her team, however, were not with them. They were back at Athena’s station, working the case behind the scenes. Athena wished she was with them.

“Good morning,” the Chief said into the microphone, and chatter from the crowd died down. “I know you are all here because you have questions about the recent murders around the city.”

“Chief, rumor has it every victim has been queer. Is that true?”

Athena’s eyes narrowed on the person who asked the question, a little ways behind the front of the herd. She took note of the haircut and shirt he was wearing, because she didn’t see a recording device or notepad and pen on him anywhere. 

The Chief paused at the question, then nodded slowly. Reluctantly.

“Unfortunately, that is a pattern we’ve noticed. All victims so far have identified with the LBGT community in some way.”

A murmur went through the crowd, and there were several flashes that meant pictures had been taken. Athena’s head was starting to throb.

“In regards to that, the Fire Chief and I have a statement to make. Los Angeles is, and has always been, a melting pot of identities. It would be unrealistic to think that those identities would not be reflected in the faces of the people that serve the city. There is nothing about being a member of the LGBT-plus community that disqualifies someone from that service. There is nothing about being a member of the LGBT-plus community that means that person cannot fulfill their duties just as well as someone who isn’t. We are proud of our gay and our transgender police officers and fire fighters, and we stand with them.” 

The man from before, Athena noticed when she looked for him, had disappeared in the crowd. If at least a hundred cameras hadn’t been trained on her, she would have frowned. As it was, she made a mental note to see if Elaine had noticed him too. 

As the press conference carried on, Athena kept her eyes sharp on the crowd, but he didn’t return.

***

Hen was putting her shoes on for work when the knock came at her front door. Her movements slowed and she looked up at the thick wooden barrier between her and whoever was on the other side of it.

But no one had been abducted in their own home, she reminded herself. Karen had left a few minutes before to take Denny to school, maybe she had forgotten something and her keys.

A quick glance at the rack on the wall where they kept them showed that wasn’t the case, though.

Hen finished tying one shoe as the person knocked again. 

“Come on, Hen, I know you’re in there. Your car is still in the driveway.”

Chimney’s voice brought a sense of relief that made Hen’s knees weak. She shook her head at her own foolishness, a smile growing on her face. When she opened the door, Chimney was standing on the other side of it, grinning back at her, arms crossed behind his back. He brought one out, a paper bag in it.

“Brought you a cheese danish.”

“What are you doing here?” She snatched the bag from him, opening it up to inspect the contents. There was a cheese danish in there, and it looked like it had fruit on it. 

“Can’t a guy just want to give his buddy a lift to work?”

Hen lowered the bag, giving Chimney a look that managed to be fond and annoyed. Her mouth twitched.

“You’re keeping an eye on me.”

“I’m just here to give you a lift.” Chimney smiled back at her, hands sliding into his back pockets, rocking on his heels. 

Hen set the bag down on her porch so that she could finish tying her shoes, double check that she had her keys. She picked it up after she’d closed and locked the door behind her. 

“Alright, chauffeur me.” Her hand clapped Chimney’s shoulder as she passed him, taking a few steps down the walkway. Chimney turned on his heels to follow her, pulling his hands out of his pockets to swing them loosely at his sides. 

“You know I’m not sharing this, right?”

“Oh, I know.” He slung one of those loose arms around her shoulders as soon as he caught up. “That’s why I already ate mine.”

Hen threw her head back and laughed. 

***

Things were a lot more sober when they reached the station. Hen and Chimney walked past people silent doing their chores, no conversation going on. No games being played.

“Did someone else get taken?” Hen muttered out of the corner of her mouth, glancing in confusion at Chimney. 

“Maybe they’ve all been struck solemn by the Chief of Police’s speech?” He looked around for the Captain, realized he was probably in his office, or upstairs in the kitchen. 

“It was a good speech,” Hen pursed her lips. “But I don’t think that’s it.”

They found Bobby with Buck and Eddie, upstairs. Eddie and Buck had paperwork scattered in front of them, are silently filling it out with furrowed brows and the occasional movement of their lips. Bobby was, as Chimney had predicted, in the kitchen, although he seemed to be cleaning up rather than cooking.

“Uh, Bobby, it says right here that—”

“I know what it says, Buck.”

“You would really transfer one of us?”

“If it seems like your relationship is causing a problem with how you do your jobs, yes.” Bobby’s voice was mild, he didn’t bother looking up from the pot he was scrubbing.

“It’s _ not going to _ —” Buck began. Eddie stopped him with a hand on his wrist without looking up. Hen didn’t miss the slight rub of his thumb against the spot where the bone jutted out. Buck took a breath, continued a little more calmly. “Fine. I’ll sign it. _ Because _ it’s not going to.”

Hen sat down across from him, Chimney taking the spot next to her, and she leaned in with her arms crossed on the table.

“Cap making you do relationship waivers?”

“Yeah,” Eddie mumbled, his eyes still on his form. He scribbled something down, paused, wrote something else.

“To tide us over until our parade,” Buck added, making Chimney chuckle. 

“Normally paperwork doesn’t enter a relationship until a license is being applied for,” he teased. “Just consider it practice.” 

“Very funny,” Buck said, at the same time that Eddie said, “I’d rather elope.”

Buck turned to Eddie with wide eyes and an open mouth, but it was Hen who spoke.

“Hey, no, nuh-uh. After all these years, if you two tie the knot, we deserve the right to be there.” She gestured at herself and Chimney. 

“Yeah, none of this courthouse with the kids business, either.” Chimney winked over at Bobby, who rolled his eyes.

Buck had fallen silent and red, was clearly trying to scowl at everyone while fighting a grin. Probably giddy over just the thought of marrying Eddie. 

Eddie seemed less flustered, although he was completely holding Buck’s hand now, not just his wrist. 

“Let’s get through one thing at a time,” he said. “Right now we can’t even tell anyone else about our relationship.”

Well, shit, Hen thought, grinning. Dollars to donuts he already had a ring. 

She wondered how much she could make off of Chimney and Bobby with that insight. Probably at least another two hundred.

Hen would put it towards a wedding gift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know the drill. Drop me a comment, let me know what you think. Reading them is such great motivation.


	8. lethal poison for the system

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things begin to converge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **WARNING FOR A HOMOPHOBIC SLUR IN THIS CHAPTER**
> 
> I gotta say that I am LOVING seeing you guys come up with theories about this fic in the comments. Some of you are really spot on! Others are not. And obviously, I'm not going to say who is who. ;)

The crash echoed through the garage, wooden chair shattering over the old midrise lift that hadn’t been used in years. It was followed by a mostly empty toolbox, although what was in it clattered to the paved floor.

There was silence, then; heavy breathing, a loud, aggravated shout. The sound of flesh hitting something hard.

“What is all this fuss about?” The voice came from a dark corner of the garage. 

Looking up from when he was cradling his hand, the man who had been yelling twisted his mouth into a scowl. His hair was close-cropped, almost military, features wide and soft from too much drink. Jowls wobbling, he took a step towards the speaker, his hands clenched into fists. 

“You said--” he began, “you said, you said that once they realized those nasty people weren’t up to snuff, you said, you said--”

“I know, I know.” The first speaker, significantly shorter than the first man, slimmer, stepped out of the shadows. “I know what I said. And it will happen. I promise you.”

“They don’t deserve to be heroes.”

“No, they don’t.”

“You said the police would be on our side.” 

“I know. I know what I said, little brother, and they will be. We just have to keep going for a little while longer.”

“We can kill the slut?”

A slim, pale hand rose to pat the giant’s bulky shoulder.

“We can kill the slut _ and _ the dyke. I already have a plan to get her. Once Captain Grant,” the speaker spit on the floor, “knows she can’t protect her people, she’ll understand.

And once we have her, we have Captain Nash, and from there, Maynard and both Chiefs. Then the mayor, and spots will open up.” The hand moved up to stroke the big, soft cheeks of the man in front of him. 

“Then it’ll be your turn, little brother. You’ll be able to be the hero you always deserved to be.” 

A sniffle, and then his palm was being nuzzled into. 

“You promise?”

“Of course. Haven’t I always taken care of you?”

“Yeah. You’re a good brother.”

“And so are you. We’ll get you that badge, little brother. One way or another.” The speaker’s other hand moved to pick up a pair of rescue shears, flecked with suspicious rust stains. “Now, we have a slut to deal with.”

***

As soon as they were back at the station, Athena and Elaine made their way to the room where the FBI had set up. A knock, and with a twist of her wrist, Athena stepped inside.

The t.v. was playing, a clear sign that the press conference had been watched. Good, Athena thought. That meant that they had probably seen the same suspicious man as she had.

“That was a moving speech,” Agent Cooper said, barely glancing at the two women. “That should get enough of a reaction to draw them out.”

“I sure as hell hope so,” Elaine said, her hands on her hips. “I am ready for this nightmare to be over.”

Athena almost said that they all were, but held her tongue. Of course they all were, but none of them as much as the people in actual danger. Instead, she brought up the man from the press conference.

“There was someone suspicious,” she began, “The man who asked that first question. He didn’t have a recording device or anything to write with, and I didn’t see a press badge.”

“Did you see what he was wearing?”

“Blue jumpsuit,” Athena nodded. “It looked like possibly a janitor’s covering, so I’m thinking whoever it was worked in the building, and that was how they had access to the press conference.”

Cooper clicked her tongue, turned to the t.v. She picked up a remote, pressing a button to rewind the footage. She paused it towards the beginning, tapping a spot on the screen. 

“Him?”

“Him,” Athena nodded. “I could probably pick him out of a line up, if I had to.” 

Nodding, Cooper turned to a member of her team. “Get a list of janitorial staff, both those working and not working this morning. Has Kim been able to reach the EMT who lost his partner for that interview?” 

“Jacobs?” Athena glanced at Elaine, then Cooper. “Why are you questioning Jacobs again?”

“His partner was kidnapped and murdered, and he managed to get away from the scene with a bump on the head. Now that it’s been a couple days, we’re hoping that he’s remembered something that he couldn’t before.”

Smart. Athena nodded, glancing over at Elaine again. She could see from her friend’s face how troubled she was feeling, so she reached out, put a hand on her shoulder with a gentle squeeze. She was still surprised when Elaine turned and pulled her into a hug.

“There, there,” Athena said, patting her back, catching Cooper’s eye over Elaine’s shoulder. 

“I should come out,” Elaine said, pulling back to wipe at her eyes, resolve sharpening her features. “Members of my team aren’t safe, but I am, and that doesn’t seem fair. If I came out--”

“You would only be putting yourself in danger.” It was Cooper who spoke, moving around the table to put her own hand on Elaine’s back. Athena stepped away. “Elaine, right now, we need your authority with these unsubs. Coming out could lose us that advantage.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Elaine gave a jerky nod. 

“She is,” Athena said. “When this is all over, you can come out if you want to. You shouldn’t feel like you have to, though. Your sexuality is your business.”

“As much as I appreciate the middle school counselor routine, Athena, I don’t need it. But thank you.”

“Of course.” Athena checked her watch, then her phone, and sighed. “I have to head home.” Normally, she viewed her time off as a respite, but going home with a serial killer on the loose didn’t feel right. Still, better to rest than lose the advantage being well-rested gave her. “You’ll call me if anything happens?”

“First thing.” 

With a nod to Agent Cooper, Athena excused herself. 

***

Even before she had the front door open, Athena could smell something delicious coming from her kitchen. Clearly, Bobby had gotten home before her. For the first time all day, she found her heart lighter, a smile on her face as she stepped into her home. 

“Hello,” she called, slipping out of her shoes and coat before taking the few steps down to the main level of the house. “Something smells amazing.”

“I’m making a glazed ham,” Bobby said, “With mashed potatoes, green beans, and those honey rolls you like.”

“Mm,” Athena groaned, finding her husband behind the stove, exactly where she’d expected to. She slid her arms around him, pressing her cheek against his back. “Sounds incredible. What inspired this feast?” 

“Comfort food,” Bobby glanced over his shoulder at her, eyebrows going up, a hint of a smile on his face. Athena chuckled, pushing up to kiss his cheek. As she stepped away, she let her hand slide down his back. 

“I could use it.”

“I thought you might feel that way, so I’m also making a raspberry cheesecake for dessert.”

“I picked the right man,” Athena moved to grab a bottle of wine from the rack, fish in a drawer for the corkscrew. Once she had the bottle opened, she went for a glass. 

“You were amazing during the press conference.”

“Please,” Athena laughed, “I just stood there.”

“True,” Bobby agreed, “but if I know my wife, you were watching the crowd, listening to those questions. Gathering information that might be useful later.”

Athena narrowed her eyes, pursed her lips, torn between a laugh and a sigh.

“I did see someone we’re going to look into,” she conceded. “But there’s no guarantee it’ll lead to anything, Bobby.”

“It will.”

Before Athena could respond, Harry came out of his room, looking around as though he was expecting other people. 

“I thought Dad and May were coming for dinner?”

“What?” Athena gave her husband a curious look. Michael had dinner with them at least once a week, but with college, May didn’t get home quite as often. She wasn’t due for a visit until her next long weekend. 

“I thought you might want to see them,” Bobby explained. “In fact, once dinner is done, I have to get back to the station. It’ll just be the four of you.”

Athena gave her husband a pleased look. The way the man read her sometimes was almost supernatural, even years later. When the door opened a few seconds later, she was still wearing it as she turned to face her daughter.

*** 

“Well, I am stuffed.” Michael pushed his plate away from him, patting his belly. “Tell Bobby I said thank you...even if my green beans _ are _ better.”

“Oh, you.” Athena gave Michael’s arm a playful swat, took a sip of her wine. 

“Bobby’s a great cook,” Harry said, immediately following it with, “But Dad’s right. His green beans are way better.”

“It’s the bacon fat,” Michael said, smug. Athena rolled her eyes, lips twitching, but didn’t argue further. 

May wiped her mouth, reached for her own wine glass. Since turning twenty-one a few months ago, she had started having one with dinner occasionally. Athena didn’t worry too much; she rarely finished a whole glass.

“So, how are things with Wendell, Dad?” May was referring to her father’s boyfriend, who hadn’t been mentioned at all that evening. Michael winced.

“He’s a little freaked out by this whole serial killer business,” he admitted. “Even though so far, nobody working at a hospital has been targeted, he’s still worried.”

“Well, now, Rachel Bennett was an EMT contracted to work for St. Ambrose,” Athena corrected, “But no, so far no doctors have been targeted.”

“And won’t be,” Michael said. “Sounds like the only people being targeted are first responders. A cardio surgeon should be fine.” 

Athena nodded, because Michael was right. It was unlikely that Wendell or Michael would be targeted. 

“Still, it has to be unsettling to know that members of the LGBT-plus community are being targeted,” May spoke up, glancing between her parents. “I mean, to know someone hates you that much just for being yourself… It has to be scary.”

“It is,” Michael agreed. “I’ve told Wendell that all we can do is pray and hope that your mom catches this guy as quickly as possible.”

“Oh, I’m on it.” Athena took another sip of her wine. “Actually, Elaine called in the FBI, and _ they _ are _ on _ it.”

“The FBI is in town?” Harry piped up, eyes widening. “Cool. Are they all in suits and, like, using earpieces to talk to each other?”

“That’s the Secret Service, dummy,” May said, rolling her own eyes. “I bet they’re all serial killer experts, though.”

“Mmhm, they are. And they are right on track to figuring this one out.” 

“You’re helping though, Mom, right?”

Athena reached out to cup Harry’s cheek, smooth her thumb over it. 

“Of course I am, baby.”

“So then they’ll definitely get them.” 

Athena only hoped her son was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments=encouragement!


	9. we're all bloodless and blind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plan is hatched, another victim is discovered.

“I would like to say, one last time, for the record, that this is the stupidest thing you have ever done.”

Hen scoffed, leaning back in her chair, thunking her boots on the table, and crossed her arms.

“It’s not that stupid.”

“In what world,” Chimney demanded, “is _ plotting to lay a trap for a serial killer _ not stupid?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Buck began, leaning in a little, “I think--”

Chimney slapped a hand over Buck’s mouth.

“Whatever you think is not going to be helpful right now, Buck. Just. Trust me on this.” 

Buck licked his palm. Chimney made a face, removing his hand to wipe it against his uniform pants. 

“What really bothers me,” Chimney continued, “is that you’re trying to get my wife involved in this hair-brained scheme.”

“Damn, Chim, who even says hair-brained anymore?”

“That’s not the point, Hen.” Chimney glared across the table at the woman who was his best friend. “The point is, you’re trying to tell me you want to use yourself as _ bait for a murderer_.”

Hen leaned over to faux-whisper in Buck’s ear. 

“You ever notice that when Chimney gets upset, he speaks in italics?”

“I hadn’t, no.” Buck grinned, shook his head. “Hey, Chim, how do you do that?”

Chimney transferred the focus of his glare to Buck. 

“You are being extremely unhelpful, _ Evan_.”

“Hey, marriage to my sister does not give you the right to use my name like an insult, _ Howie_.”

“Where is Eddie? Why isn’t he reining you in?”

“Eddie doesn’t need to be a part of this,” Buck said quickly. “He has a son.”

“Oh, but involving my _ wife_\--”

“Who happens to be my _ sister_\--”

“Okay, enough, both of you.” Hen dropped her boots to the floor, uncrossing her arms to hold out a hand in each man’s direction. “Chim, you can back me on this or not. I _ know _ it’s a crazy idea. But I also know that I’m not going to be able to sleep at night until this guy is off the street and in jail where he belongs.” 

“And what if it doesn’t work and you end up the next victim? What about Karen and Denny?”

Hen wavered. She had promised Karen that she wouldn’t do anything reckless, and at the time, Hen had meant it. But she also knew that she couldn’t not do anything at all. 

“See, Chim, that’s why we need you and Maddie. The more of us are involved, the more likely it is that we can pull this off.”

“This is not the kind of hero I want to be,” Chimney said. “Bennett was taken when her partner was on the scene. Perks was taken when a whole team was around. This idea, it seems more stupid than anything else.”

“What idea?”

At the sound of their captain’s voice, the three firefighters jerked guiltily, looking up at where he stood at the top of the stairs with wide eyes. 

“Nothing, Cap,” Hen said quickly. “Just thinking about taking Denny to see Spongebob on Ice.”

“That does sound like a stupid idea,” Bobby agreed. He pulled up a chair at the head of the table. “But I get the feeling that’s not actually what you three were talking about.” 

“Actually, Bobby,” Chimney began, then jumped. “Ow!”

Pulling his now-throbbing shin into his lap to rub it, he glared at Hen. 

“That was very inconspicuous,” Bobby said mildly.

“I try, Cap,” Hen gave him the sweetest smile she could muster. 

Bobby opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could speak again, Eddie’s voice filtered up from down below.

“Cap! Bobby!” He sounded almost...afraid. Buck stiffened, sitting up straight. When Eddie appeared one the second floor, out of breath, he was on his feet.

“What is it? What happened?”

Bobby stood too, frowning at the frantic look on Eddie’s face. Pale, eyes wide, hands shaking.

“There’s…” Eddie swallowed. “There’s a body shoved in one of the engines.” 

***

The FBI descended on Station 118 like ants on a crumb of cake, bringing with them a forensics team and the coroner. Agent Cooper approached Bobby with a grim expression on her face once she’d seen the body.

“Thirteen stab wounds. You said one of your men found him?”

Bobby nodded to where Eddie and Buck were sitting together, Buck with his arm around Eddie’s shoulders. 

“Eddie Diaz. He was cleaning the engine and found the body shoved in one of the bottom compartments.” 

Compartments they checked after every call, and had since the heist debacle several years before. Had the killer known that? Bobby wouldn’t have been surprised to find out that he had. He resisted the urge to rub away the headache building at the front of his skull. 

“I’m going to need to talk to him.”

“You don’t think Eddie had something to do with it?” Bobby could feel his eyebrows going up. 

“No, I don’t,” Cooper replied with a curt shake of her head. “But we need to know all of the details about how he found him.”

“Has he been identified?”

“Not yet. Nobody from any precinct or station has been reported missing, either. Right now we’re checking databases for people who were off duty in the last 24 hours.” 

“I know who he is.” 

Both Cooper and Bobby looked over at where Hen was standing, fists clenched tightly at her sides. 

“His name is Kevin Martin. He’s--he_ was _\--a firefighter with the 136.”

Bobby nodded slowly. He hated to ask, but it needed to be confirmed. 

“And he’s…”

“Yeah,” Hen sighed. “He was openly pansexual.” 

Bobby wasn’t sure what that one was, but he nodded again anyway.

There didn’t seem like much else he could do.

***

Buck’s warmth was a comforting weight against Eddie’s side, one that he leaned into. With Buck’s arms around his shoulders, he could almost close his eyes and _ not _ see the poor man who he’d found blood-stained and folded like a damn pretzel. 

It helped that Buck’s thumb was rubbing soothing circles at the nape of his neck. 

“Firefighter Diaz?” 

Both men looked up. Eddie spoke quickly, before Buck could say whatever it was that had his mouth twisting so sourly like that.

“That’s me.”

The woman in front of him nodded, held out a hand. 

“I’m Agent Cooper. I’d like to ask you a few questions about what exactly it was that happened.” 

Eddie took her hand, gave it a quick shake before dropping it again. His palms were clammy, a slightly tremor to them. He swallowed, bobbed his head in understanding.

“Well, it was my turn to clean the engine we used, so I was doing that… We always check the compartments underneath now, because a few years ago someone used them to steal from a bank. When I opened the last compartment, there he was.”

“And you knew he was dead right away?”

“The way he was bent, I knew he couldn’t be alive. There was no way his spine was intact. Then I noticed the glassy eyes, and the…” Eddie swallowed, “blood stains.” 

He swallowed again, trying to keep down the bile, leaned a little more heavily into Buck’s side. 

“And you’ve never seen him before?”

“No.” Eddie shook his head. “He’s not one of ours, and I hadn’t seen him out on a call with another team, either.”

Frowning, Cooper looked over her shoulder at where some of her team was gathered. 

“Why here, then? Why _ this _station?”

“Our captain is married to Captain Grant,” Buck said. “Maybe whoever is committing these murders knows that and is trying to send a message.”

“A message...to Captain Grant?”

Even to Eddie’s ears, it didn’t make sense. As much sense as it didn’t make, however, he couldn’t think of any other reason why the body had ended up there. 

Whatever the message was, he just hoped Athena got it. 

***

Hen was sitting with her head in her hands in the locker room when Chimney found her. He moved slowly, sat down next to her.

“Alright,” he said, after a moment of silence. It got Hen to wipe her eyes and look at him. Her glasses, he noticed, were folded on the bench on the other side of her. “Okay.”

“Okay what?”

“Okay,” Chimney took a deep breath. “I’m in.”

“You’re in,” Hen repeated slowly. 

“With your stupid plan to catch this guy. I’m in. I’ll help you.” 

“Why the sudden change of heart?”

“I mean, when my best friend is sitting in here crying because _ her _ friends are getting killed… I would be the world’s biggest asshole if I didn’t help.” 

“Chim…”

“But it can’t be just us. We need backup if we’re going to do this, Hen. We should tell Bobby, tell Athena…” 

“Chimney,” Hen groaned, burying her face in her hands again. “If we tell them, they won’t let us do it.”

“We shouldn’t do it. But this has gone on long enough. It’s obviously personal now, and I don’t want to lose you too. Of course, I might lose you because of this stupid plan, but… I know you’d rather go trying to help, then being a victim.”

“I would,” Hen agreed softly. She reached one hand out, patting Chimney’s knee. “Can we just tell ‘Thena, though? Cap will be pissed.”

“He has a right to be,” Chimney muttered, but he nodded anyway. “Fine. But you have to tell her, before we do anything.”

Chimney accepted that he couldn’t talk some sense into Hen, but maybe Athena could. At the very least, Chimney hoped she would make the plan seem less crazy.

If that were even possible.


	10. not scared anymore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plan is put into action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY CRAP this this isn't even half-way done.  
AGAIN, **warning for a homophobic slur** in this chapter.

Raised voices from Captain Maynard’s office had become commonplace over the last week. Typically, Elaine was the one yelling. At the moment, though, it was Athena.

Elaine had to admit she was a little impressed.

“You want to do _ what _ now?”

“Don’t look at me like that, ‘Thena.”

“Look at you like what? Like you’re crazy? Because you are if you think anything about this is a good idea.”

Hen had seen Athena give people the look she was wearing now. Steely, unyielding, narrowed eyes and set jaw; it had never been directed at her before, and seeing it did make Hen feel bad, really it did. 

There was just something else making her feel worse. 

“It is the only idea we’ve got, Athena. We have no idea who this guy is or how he knows who to target. How he’s getting his targets to the scene.”

“And your idea for solving that puzzle is taking every 9-1-1 call that sounds suspect until you’re attacked? I don’t think so.” 

Hen straightened up from where she’d been leaning against Elaine’s desk, dropping her arms. 

“I’m not really asking for your permission, Athena. I’ve already got Buck and Chimney on board--”

“Oh, great, the other two stooges,” Athena rolled her eyes. Hen ignored her and pressed on. 

“And Maddie’s already agreed to redirect those calls to me.”

“I could have her fired for that.” 

“Athena.” Shock made Hen’s voice louder than she meant it to be. She took a step towards Athena, raising her hands slightly. “Athena, you are so close to this, but you’re not in it. Not really. Not the way I am, or Buck is. Because, see, you’re safe. At the end of the day, you’re a straight woman married to a man. Whoever is doing this, it’s not you they have the problem with.” 

“_Henrietta-- _”

“She’s right, Athena.” Elaine spoke up, arms folded over her chest, stepping in between the two women to diffuse some of the tension. “I know you care, and you mean the best, but Hen is right. You’re not in this the same way she is, or I am.” 

Athena looked between the two women she considered her closest friends, deflating more with each passing second. Finally, her shoulders slumped, and she rubbed her forehead, closing her eyes briefly.

“Alright,” she said, after a deep breath. “Alright. If you want to do this, I suppose I should just be grateful you told me about it.”

“Well, Chimney told me to.”

“Glad one of you has sense.” Shaking her head, Athena turned away. “I’m sure we’re going to need to get Agent Cooper involved as well.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Elaine told her. “Cooper already talked about wanting to set up a sting, but she was worried that the killer’s familiarity with the targets would mean she couldn’t use her people. Having a volunteer will definitely make it more likely to work.” 

“Or more likely that my friend will end up dead,” Athena muttered. She looked back at Hen, face softening. “Is it so wrong that I don’t want anything to happen to you? Things were so good before this, and we deserved that.”

“It’s not wrong,” Hen smiled slightly. “But if things are going to be good again, then this is something that needs to be over, Athena.”

Athena still wasn’t convinced that Hen was right. She nodded anyway.

“Alright. Somebody’d better call Cooper.”

***

“Are you ready for this?”

Maddie looked up and over her shoulder at the hovering FBI agent, then past him to where Josh was watching her. In any other circumstances, he would have been mocking her. The last few days, however, his mood has been serious, and it was worry that filled his eyes when he met hers. 

“I’ve already spoken to this creep twice. I know what sort of things to listen for, I have your list.” Maddie took a deep breath, nodded. On the desk in front of her was a piece of lined yellow paper, bulleted with ways to tell if a call might be the killer. 

“Knowing what to do in theory doesn’t mean that you’re ready.”

“Well, I am.” Maddie turned around again with a swish of her hair. “I am so ready for this.” 

That last part, she said mostly to herself. That didn’t make it any less true. Maddie was going to help the FBI catch this guy so that people would be safe again. So that her brother would be safe to come out, to be happy. 

Buck deserved to be happy, the way Maddie was happy with Chimney. 

Her line rang, and Maddie answered without hesitation.

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”

The woman on the other end was frantic, crying, and matched nothing on the list in front of her. Maddie stayed on the line with her until help came, and then hung up. Her line rang again, and once more, Maddie answered.

Most of the morning passed with calls that were almost mundane compared to what Maddie was waiting for. Each call had her stomach twisting, hands shaking, but she managed to keep her voice steady.

Around four in the afternoon, it was Josh who got the call. 

Maddie only realized it when he rolled across the floor to grab her list, waving it in her face while he spoke to the person on the other end. She glanced at the FBI agent, jerked her head towards Josh. 

Nodding, the man turned away, spoke into a microphone so low that Maddie couldn’t make out what he said. Then he faced them again. 

“Everything is in position,” he told them. 

“They hung up,” Josh replied, throwing his hands in the air. “All I got was the address.” 

“The address, and the voice of the caller. We can compare that audio to the audio from the calls Mrs. Han got.”

“And if they don’t match?”

“They will.”

Maddie wished she had that kind of confidence. 

***

Hen double-checked the wire she was wearing--a small camera that had been fitted to her name tag, barely noticeable. In the driver’s seat of their rig, Chimney looked at her, but he didn’t say anything.

Anything he said now would sound like goodbye. 

And so, silently, Hen opened the door and hopped down, out into the warm evening air. 

Act like it’s routine, Hen reminded herself. Like she had no idea that she was walking into a trap. If things went wrong, she could be dead by that time the next day, which was not something she wanted, so.

Attitude was important.

“Your lazy ass is staying in the truck?” Routine. Casual. She tossed the words over her shoulder to resist the urge to reach for a weapon she didn’t even have. 

“Doesn’t look like there’s much of an emergency.” 

Even if it weren’t a set up, Chimney would have had a point. The call had been to a vineyard. Fading sunlight showed sunburned leaves, shriveled grapes leftover from the harvest, cast shadows that made it hard to see between the rows when Hen tried to look further into them. There didn’t seem to be anyone else around, not even another vehicle.

However, it was only three miles from the Love station where they’d found Garson’s body.

“Alright, alright, I’ll check the scene. You grab the gear if we need it.”

Hen’s footsteps crunched the dried leaves beneath her, grinding them into the soil. She kept her eyes open, using a flashlight to scan for a sign that someone else was there.

Something moved out of the corner of her eye, and Hen turned quickly. That was when she realized it had gotten much darker in the few minutes since she’d left the truck, and she couldn’t see the edge of the vineyard.

Her heart started hammering violently against her ribs, and Hen swallowed.

She closed her eyes, thinking of Karen and Denny. Karen, who didn’t even know she was doing it, and Denny, who had kissed her cheek this morning with maple syrup on his breath. 

It was having her eyes closed, she would later say, that saved her life.

She heard the rustle of fabric behind her, the scrape of a dried leaf against something rougher. It was so quiet out there that there was nothing to distract her from it. 

Hen’s eyes opened as she sensed movement behind her. Turning swiftly, she brought her flashlight up--

\--and knocked into into the beefy wrist of a man standing far too close. Whatever he’d been holding fell to the ground as he stumbled backwards in surprise.

“CHIMNEY!” Hen screamed, then screamed it again for good measure. 

The man was a good four inches taller than Hen, maybe four inches broader, too. His face was hidden by shadows, but Hen assumed it was ugly. 

She swung her flashlight again, aiming with the heavy head of it, and managed to smack him in the jaw. He stumbled backwards again. When Hen took a step towards him, raising the flashlight again, she heard glass shatter beneath her boot.

“CHIMNEY! ATHENA!” Oh, hell, Hen thought. “**_BUCK!_ **”

The man was still stumbling, big hands grabbing at the vines to try and steady himself again. Hen brought the flashlight down again, smacking him in the chest, and he tipped backwards. 

“DYKES DON’T FIGHT BACK,” he screamed at her, and Hen saw red.

“This one does,” she hissed, going to swing one more time, taking aim for his head, wanting to bash it in--

A hand grabbed her wrist. Shaking with her rage, Hen turned to hit whoever was holding her back. 

Athena was staring back at her. 

Hen hadn’t even heard her arrive. She blinked, suddenly realizing her vision was blurry with tears. Through them, though, she could see flashing red and blue lights in the near distance, see a swarm of people that were descending on them. 

“‘Thena?”

“It’s over, Hen. You got him.”

Still shaking, Hen’s hand when lax.

The flashlight dropped to the ground and rolled away from them as she collapsed into Athena’s arms, shoulders heaving with sobs.

***

In the end, it was Athena who cuffed him, pushing him a little too forcefully against her car while she did. She’d left Hen with Chimney and Buck for the moment, because she wanted to have a word with this creep.

She pushed up into his face once she’d read him his rights, close enough so that she could hiss, without anyone else hearing: “You’re going to burn in Hell, you motherfucker.”

There was something intensely satisfying about the look that put on his face. For the first time in a week, Athena meant it when she smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drop me a comment, share your thoughts and theories!


	11. gonna guess they won't be prepared

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath. Or is it?

Hen shouldn’t have been surprised to find Karen and Denny waiting for her at the station. It still took her a moment to even register that she was seeing them there at all, standing off to the side near the entrance. Karen had one arm around Denny’s shoulder.

There was a bag at their feet.

“Please tell me you told Karen you were doing this,” Chimney said, “and that she didn’t have to find out by watching the news.”

Hen kept her mouth shut. If anything, she closed it more tightly, pressing her lips together. What she had done would have consequences, she knew that. She just hadn’t expected them to happen so immediately. 

She’d kind of hoped it would wait until she got home.

Opening the rig door, Hen hopped down, went around the front to face her wife and son. 

“Heeey, baby,” she greeted, head ducked, hands linked behind her. Resisting the urge to open her arms and embrace them. As tense as Karen’s shoulders were, trying that would not be well received. 

“Don’t you ‘hey baby’ me,” Karen said. “After what I just saw on the news?”

There was less anger in her voice than Hen had been anticipating. She blinked, and it took her a second to find the right response. When she spoke, she still wasn’t sure she had.

“Karen, honey, I know that I should have told you--”

“Damn right, you should have told me,” Voice pitched to a hush, Karen squeezed Denny’s shoulder before letting him go. “And we’re talking about it later. But right now, we’re here to make sure that you’re okay.”

Hen blinked again. Her arms went around Denny when he shuffled towards her for a hug. 

“You are?”

“Even with your stupid plan, you must have been terrified, and you could still have been hurt. So we brought you some things for the rest of your shift.”

“You did.” Hen’s eyes flickered to the bag at Karen’s feet and felt her knees buckle slightly. Holding Denny kept her upright. 

“Your cashmere throw, a box of thin mints, Denny’s old rabbit--don’t worry, it’s been washed since the last time he played with it--”

“Mooom,” Denny groaned against Hen’s stomach, and she chuckled. So did Karen, and her smile lingered.

“I knew you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from doing something stupidly heroic. Emphasis on the stupid.”   


“See, I would have put the emphasis on the heroic…” 

“Yeah, yeah, I know you would.” Karen rolled her eyes. She kept smiling, though. “I am furious at you, Henrietta.”

“I know. But you love me.”   


“But I love you,” Karen agreed with a sigh, “and when I’m done being mad, I’m going to be damn proud of you.”

Hen leaned in to press her forehead against Karen’s, Denny between them. Karen’s hands came up to cup her face, and Hen turned her head slightly so that she could brush her lips over her palm.

“I can wait.” 

***

Athena, on the other hand, wasn’t surprised in the slightest to see her husband waiting for her when she pulled up to the station. Now that the arrest had been made, the whole thing was in Agent Cooper’s hands, so she’d slipped away to go check on her friends.

Bobby had his arms crossed and an expression on his face usually reserved for people he found particularly stupid.

He wore it around Buck a lot. It’d never been directed at Athena before. She braced herself as she got out of her cruiser, thankful they were both in uniform and at the firehouse. Bobby wouldn’t make too much of a stir in public, if they were going to argue. 

“I was wondering if you were going to show your face around here,” he said as Athena approached him, removing her sunglasses, hooking them in her shirt. 

“Had to take care of some things at the crime scene,” Athena stopped about a foot away from him, her hands on her hips. Bobby didn’t move any closer. 

“Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

“You wouldn’t have let them do it.”

“That was my call to make.”

“Bobby,” Athena began, shaking her head, “It wasn’t either of our calls to make. It was theirs, and they made it. And it turned out fine.”

“Which is very lucky for everyone involved, and don’t pretend it isn’t.” Bobby stared at Athena in silence that stretched seconds to minutes. Then his shoulders slumped, he deflated, arms falling to his side. He raised his hands in a helpless shrug. 

“I didn’t like how helpless I felt, watching the scene go down on the news and realizing Chim, Hen, and Buck weren’t treating everyone to ice cream.” 

Athena paused, eyebrow twitching, looked at her husband. “That’s the excuse they gave you?”

“It was.”

“And you  _ bought _ it?”

“To be fair, I was distracted.”

“With what, diffusing a bomb?”

“Paella.”

Athena opened her mouth, closed it again. Her husband had the audacity to look sheepish. 

“Paella,” she repeated.

“I thought it might help lift spirits.”

Closing her eyes, Athena turned away from her husband. Bobby frowned, stepping towards her. 

“Athena, you can’t be mad at me for making paella…” He put his hand on her shoulder, which was shaking slightly. “Athena?”

Bobby gently turned her to face him. One hand covered Athena’s mouth, her eyes narrowed and damp. 

“Are you…”

Athena dropped her hand, sucking in a breath, and laughed in her husband’s face. 

“You’re  _ laughing _ at me?”

“Three of your team snuck out for an FBI sting because you were cooking something complicated, of course I’m laughing at you.” Athena swatted his chest lightly. “They probably could have told you the whole plan and you would have been too busy taste testing to hear ‘em.”

“I don’t know if that’s true,” Bobby began, fighting his own smile. He reached out, hands settling on her hips. Athena slipped her arms around his neck, fingers toying with the hair at his nape. 

“Mmhm, I know how you get.”

“I did know they were up to something,” Bobby defended. “I just didn’t realize they were going to get my  _ wife _ involved.”

“You sound like Chimney,” Athena teased, and pulled him down for a kiss.

*** 

Chimney unlocked the door to his home and poked his head inside.

“Maddie?” He pushed the door open a little more, stepped into the entryway. “I’m home.” 

His wife appeared from around a corner that led to the kitchen, holding a bottle of wine and two glasses.    


“How was your day, dear?” 

Her hair was down, and Maddie had put on a light blue negligee that fluttered around her thighs. There was, of course, a cardigan thrown over it, because she was the woman Chimney had married. 

Chimney slowly started removing his coat, hanging it up behind him and nearly missing the hook. He kicked off his shoes without worrying where they landed. 

“I was a hero,” Chimney said, a little bit of swagger in his walk as he moved towards Maddie, who giggled and took a few steps backwards. “A big damn hero.” 

“Mm, I want you to tell me all about it.” She used the hand holding the bottle to gesture towards the couch, eyes sparkling in the dim hallway light. “Should we do that out here on the couch, or…”

“Woman, I am taking you to bed.” Chimney got close enough to reach for the bottle, took it from her while his other arm slid around her waist, tugging Maddie in for a kiss. 

“So you don’t want to talk about it?” Maddie checked when he pulled back, just a little breathless, eyes flickering over her husband’s face. She was smiling slightly.

“We can talk about it after.” 

They left the wine and glasses in the kitchen.

***

“Should I get sharp or mild cheddar for the macaroni and cheese?” 

Buck stood in the dairy aisle of the local grocery store near Eddie’s house, phone wedged between his shoulder and his head. A green basket was hooked on the corner of one arm, already full of ingredients. 

“Hold on, let me ask Christoper,” Eddie’s voice sounded slightly tinny through the speaker. There was the sound of a muffled conversation, and then Eddie was back. “Get both. Christopher can’t decide either.”

Buck’s head bobbed, despite the fact that neither Eddie or Christopher could see him. 

“Both, got it. Hey, I’m gonna get some Jack, too. Make this really ooey gooey and delicious.” 

“Make it too ooey gooey and Christopher will be up all night in the bathroom,” Eddie reminded him, voice pitched a little lower. Buck’s throat bobbed as he considered this. He licked his lips before speaking again.

“Wouldn’t want that. We’ll stick to two cheeses.” 

“Don’t forget stuff for a salad, too. We can’t have just macaroni and cheese for dinner.” 

“Hey, I’m putting sausage in it.” There was also already a head of lettuce and several types of vegetables in his basket, but Buck wasn’t going to mention that. 

Both cheeses in, Buck moved towards the front of the store. There was one tired-looking cashier with an open lane that early in the morning. 

Macaroni and cheese for breakfast had been Christopher’s idea. He wasn’t sure why, exactly, they were celebrating, just that they were. 

“Thank you for cooking, by the way. I know you must be exhausted after that whole set up.”

“I can sleep after we get Chris to school. And we can talk after I sleep. I know you’re probably mad that I did something stupid again…”

“No,” Eddie said quickly. “You wanted to protect people. That’s what you do. I  _ am _ irritated that you found a way to risk your life to do it, though.” 

“Technically, I was perfectly safe. Hen was the one in danger.”   


“And if it had gone wrong?” 

Buck didn’t answer right away, holding the phone to his chest to speak to the cashier, pay for his groceries and say no, he didn’t need help out.

“Look, Eddie,” he said, walking away from her, groceries in hand, “I know irritated means the same thing as mad with you, so don’t pretend you aren’t. I’d rather you admit to being mad so we can talk through it than you hold it in and blow up later.”

“...Fine,” Eddie admitted with a sigh, “I’m mad, but not because you did it. Because you didn’t tell me you were going to. Buck, you have to share stuff like that now.”

At his house, Eddie opened the fridge to pull out a beer, popped the cap on the magnet he had that doubled as a bottle opener. The carbonation hissed, cap clattering to the floor. Eddie bent to pick it up, toss it in the garbage. When he straightened, he took a sip, still waiting for Buck to reply.

“Buck?” He said, after a moment of nothing. “You there?” 

He checked the screen of his phone, but the call was still going. “Buck?” 

Christopher glanced up from the book he was reading for homework. Eddie glanced at him, then looked away. 

“Evan?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments are appreciated! Let me know what you think!


	12. shake it down to the drawing board

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are going to be moving at a pretty rapid pace for the 118 from here on out.

Athena’s boots sounded like thunder as she strode into the station where Agent Cooper and her FBI team were gathered. The expression on her face had people moving out of the way so quickly they tripped over each other, and yet she barely spared them a glance. Throwing open the door to Elaine’s office, she stood there with barely suppressed rage. 

“I thought,” she began, as calmly as she possibly could, “that we had him.”

“We do,” Elaine said. "Don't we?"

“My missing firefighter says something different.” 

“Missing…” Cooper glanced at Elaine, then back at Athena. “Missing firefighter?”

“Aren’t you a cop?” One of Cooper’s agents said, earning himself a look that had him shrinking back in his seat. 

“Buck is like family.”

“This whole city is an incestuous mess,” the agent muttered, paling when Athena narrowed her eyes slightly. 

“Buck is missing?” Elaine asked, moving to stand between Athena and the man about to make himself a victim of her war path.

Athena nodded curtly. 

“Got a call from Eddie about an hour ago. Buck went to the store to get something for dinner, they were on the phone, and he just stopped responding.”

“Do you know what store he was at?”

This time, Elaine was on the receiving end of Athena’s unimpressed glare. 

“How long have I been doing this? Yes, I know what store, and I went to check out the scene, as well. There’s footage of Buck leaving the store, but whoever took him waited until he was out of sight of the cameras to do it.”

“And you know he was taken how?” Cooper raised her hands when Athena turned that glare to her. 

“Contents of his bag scattered all over the pavement outside his vehicle. There’s also the fact that I mentioned before, that he stopped talking to his boyfriend mid-conversation. Without hanging up the phone.”

“Was the phone recovered at the scene?”

Athena pulled it out of her pocket. The screen was cracked from being dropped against the parking lot cement, but it still turned on, locked, when Athena touched it. 

“I’m thinking either we caught the wrong guy, or…”

“There was an accomplice. Actually,” Cooper stood up, picking up a manila folder as she did. “We think the person we have in custody is the accomplice.”

“What?” Elaine straightened up in her chair. “Why wasn't I informed?”

“Who do we have in custody?” Athena asked over her, took the offered folder when Cooper held it out to her, opening it with a deep frown.

“His name is Mason Owens. We matched him to footage of the press conference as the man you pointed out, Athena."

"I thought you were tracking him down for questioning before yesterday."

"We were trying to,” Cooper agreed, nodding slightly. “Turns out that the building where the press conference was held hires their cleaning services through freelancers. Minimal background checks. He gave false information on his application and we weren't able to track him down before your friend came to us with her idea."

"But it is the same man?"

"It is." Cooper hesitated, "But it's not the man who called 9-1-1. Voice ID doesn't match."

"So all this time, he had a partner?" And they hadn’t known. Athena started to sit down, then realized she had nowhere to do that, straightened up again. 

"Partner, mastermind… Either way, if Buck is missing, that’s most likely who has him."

Athena's stomach spasmed at the thought.

“We’re sure Mason Owens is his real name?” She stared down at his mugshot, recalling the way his face looked with red and blue lights flashing over it. He was an ugly sonofabitch, that was for sure. Even in a picture, she could tell from his eyes alone that he was mean. 

“Matched it to fingerprints already in the system. He’s got a long record, mostly minor stuff, nothing that stuck. Before he turned eighteen, he was a foster kid.”

“In the system.” Athena pressed her lips together tightly. Anyone else, and hearing that would have stirred some sympathy in her.

“We’ve requested access to those files. We should have a fuller picture once they get here.”

“What about your theory from before? The one where you said you thought he had been rejected from training programs for police and firefighters?”

“That checks out,” Cooper nodded towards the file. “Multiple applications since he turned 18, but he was never cleared. Partly because of his record, but also he just couldn’t pass muster.” 

“But he had access to rescue shears.” Athena closed the file, tapped it against her palm. “Have you spoken to him yet?”

“Just cursory intake stuff. We’re letting him sweat a little before we try for a confession.”

“Good. Keep letting him sweat.” 

Taking the file with her, Athena turned towards the door, then paused. Over her shoulder, she said, “He had better hope we find Buck alive.” 

When the door had shut behind her, Cooper turned to Elaine.

“She didn’t mean that, right?”

Elaine sighed.

“It’s Athena. I don’t really want to know what she meant.”

***

Rapid knocking on Maddie’s door brought her and Eddie both to their feet. 

If Chimney were a jealous sort of man, he might have minded that they were holding hands--clinging to each other, really--but he wasn’t about to deny his wife or friend any comfort that they could get at the moment.

“I’ll get it,” he said, rising to his feet as well, “It’s probably just the food I ordered.”

Not that any of them were really in the mood to eat. In fact, eating was the last thing on Eddie or Maddie’s mind.

Still clinging to each other, they slowly sank back down onto the couch. 

“I never should have let him go to the store alone,” Eddie said after a tense moment, voice cracking. Tired of listening to Chimney talk to the delivery person. The smell of food made his stomach roll so strongly he was worried he might throw up. 

“You couldn’t know,” Maddie told him, squeezing his hand. “You thought he was safe. We all thought we had the guy.”

“First he comes up with this stupid plan without telling me, and then he gets himself kidnapped, I just…” Head dropping, Eddie rubbed at his forehead with his free head. “Why did I think that things would be easier once we got together?”

“I have no idea,” Chimney re-joined them, but not before dropping the food off in the kitchen. If Maddie and Eddie didn’t eat any, they’d have leftovers for a week. “It’s Buck. Nothing about him has ever been easy.”

The double glare had Chimney raising his hands defensively. 

“I’m _ kidding_.”

“Now is not the time, sweetie.” Maddie softened the words with the pet name, but the harsh tone belied her affection.

“Yeah, I’m getting that.”

Not being able to lighten the mood with a joke had Chimney feeling more than a little useless. He sat alone on the lounge chair next to the couch, watching Maddie and Eddie take turns checking their phones, as though they expected Buck to just call and be fine. 

Or maybe they were hoping to hear from someone else. Athena had gone to check out the store when Eddie had called her, and after confirming it looked like he’d been abducted, there was radio silence.

“Maybe we should call her,” Maddie said, as though reading Chimney’s thoughts. “Athena. See if she found something out.”

“Maddie…” Chimney began, sighed. He rubbed the bridge of his nose like that would stop the brewing headache. “Athena would call if she knew anything.”

“No, you’re right. You’re right.” Maddie nodded. Then she checked her phone again, pushing the volume button to make sure it was turned up.

“Hey, where’s Christopher?” Chimney tried, hoping that changing the subject would perk both of them up.

“With my abuela,” Eddie barely glanced at him. “I didn’t want him picking up on something being wrong.”

“But something is wrong.” 

“But he doesn’t need to know that, Chim. And we’re going to find Buck, and everything will be okay.”

“Eddie…”

“We’re going to find him.” Eddie did look at Chimney, then, jaw tense, eyes glittering with unshed tears. “We will.”

Chimney couldn’t exactly deny Eddie that hope, so he just stood up again, moving to sit on the other side of Maddie. He wrapped an arm around his wife.

If it happened to hand a hand on Eddie’s shoulder and he gave it a squeeze, well, he doubted anyone would fault him for it.

***

Eventually, Chimney managed to get Eddie and Maddie both to bed. A little coaxing and a lot of chamomile tea had Eddie passed out in their guest room, Maddie curled up on the couch with her head in Chimney’s lap so that he could stroke her hair. 

He had the t.v. on low, late night news on a 24-hour station playing. There was no mention of Buck. 

Chimney wasn’t sure whether or not he was relieved by that. 

When Maddie’s phone lit up, Athena’s name on the screen, Chimney almost missed it. Normally, he would never answer his wife’s phone, but in this case he felt like an exception could be made. 

“Athena.”

“Chimney?”

“Yeah, hey,” Chimney glanced down at his sleeping wife to make sure that she was still asleep, speaking in hushed tones. “Maddie’s asleep.”

“Good.” Even through the speakers, Chimney could hear the weight of her sigh as though it pressed down on his shoulders. “She deserves some rest. Eddie is with you too?”

“He came over as soon as he had Christopher taken care of. Have you found anything out?”

“Not much,” Athena admitted. “We’re trying to get access to some sealed records regarding Mason Owens’s foster care, hoping that there will be a connection there that leads us to whoever has Buck. But right now, we can’t even track down a home address for the man we _ do _ have in custody.” 

“You have the FBI there, how is that possible?”

“It could be that he has no home, or that he’s not living in a building zoned for residential. But don’t worry. I’m on it.”

“I just don’t want you getting hurt too. I know Bobby wouldn’t like that, either.” 

“Bobby knew the woman he married. He wants to find Buck just as much as I do.” 

“Yeah.” Chimney let the word settle over the wire before he spoke again. “We are going to find him, right?”

“My gut says yes.”

Her gut. Chimney considered this. Athena’s gut had kept her alive for over three decades of police work. He could trust it.

“I’ll come by in the morning with Bobby. In the meantime, you take care of those two, Chimney.” 

Chimney glanced down at Maddie’s sleeping face, gently brushed some hair off her cheek.

“Like I’d be doing anything else.” 

Ending the call, Chimney stared at the background on Maddie’s phone: the two of them staring at the camera with their cheeks pressed together, Buck standing over them, clearing photobombing their selfie. 

“Stay safe, kid,” he muttered. “Don’t do anything stupid.” 

Chimney could only hope that wherever Buck was, he somehow listened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whooooa, we're half way there. Whoooooa, Buck's living on a prayer. 
> 
> ...Too soon?
> 
> Let me know what you think!


	13. isn't this exactly where you'd like me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That Buckley Crazy-Stupid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woke up early on my day off to make sure I get a chapter in! Hope you enjoy it!

There was a tiny little man living in Buck’s head. Maybe there were two of them. They obviously had hammers, because they were running around all over his brain, beating it with them. They seemed particularly invested in a spot on the back of his head that throbbed in time with his heartbeat. 

Buck was trying to keep track of that, too, but it was difficult with his hands immobile; he couldn’t check his watch. He was pretty sure his wrists weren’t cuffed, but he still couldn’t move them.

He kept his eyes closed. When he’d opened them earlier, Buck’s vision had been blurry. He hadn’t been able to focus. It had only made the pounding in his head worse. Keeping them closed was just easier.

There wasn’t much to see anyway. What Buck had been able to make out was grey--grey walls, grey floor, grey everything.

His mouth was try. Too much tequila and marijuana dry. A sensation that he hadn’t had to deal with since he got back to the states, and one Buck hadn’t missed. He smacked his lips together a couple of times, feeling their chapped state. He’d definitely been given _ something_.

“Hey,” he called out, not the first time he’d done so. His voice cracked, wouldn’t go as high as he pushed it to. “Hey, I need some water…”

Nothing. Occasionally, Buck heard a noise, muffled and distant, like someone else was...wherever he was. Mostly, though, he just heard the dripping of a leaky pipe, somewhere behind him, only as loud as it was because a puddle had formed. _ Bloop-splash_, over and over.

That noise was starting to match the pounding in his head, too. Or maybe the pounding in his head was changing rhythm to match the drip. 

Would his heartbeat change too?

Head falling back against empty air, Buck took a deep breath, testing his wrists again as he did. Definitely not handcuffs. Maybe a zip tie. Unfortunately whatever it was seemed to be around his ankles as well, keeping him strapped to the chair he’d woken up in. 

He wished he could remember anything about how he’d gotten there. The last clear memory Buck had was Eddie’s voice in his ear, warm and low over the phone, although the words themselves were fuzzy.

Eddie. If Buck had any energy left, the thought of Eddie would have had him struggling again, the way he had when he’d first woken up. Thrashing around screaming out to be released. Whoever had taken him ignored him then, too. 

Head falling forward again, so that his chin bumped his chest, Buck scrunched his face up against the prickling at the corners of his eyes. He didn’t want to give the bastard the satisfaction of seeing him cry. 

***

“Are you sure that you want to do this? Nobody would blame you if you called out.”

Chimney watched Maddie tilt her head to put in an earring, dangling pale purple gemstones shaped like teardrops, wrapped in wire. They’d been a gift from Buck for her birthday the year before. Yet another stowaway gift, as the kid called them.

All those years he and Maddie hadn’t spoken, Buck had picked things up, here and there, that reminded him of his sister. He still pulled them out sometimes with a crazy story, always slightly more ridiculous than the last one. The earrings had apparently come from a crazy old woman on a beach down in South America who claimed they were mermaid tears, and therefore good luck.

Buck believed a lot of wild things. Chimney could only hope that he was right about one of them, and those earrings were lucky.

“I’m going to work today, Howie,” Maddie said, using her husband’s real name to show that she was serious. She tilted her head to the other side to put the matching earring in, admiring the way the lavender caught the light of their overhead lamp. She wasn’t sure why the tears of anything would be lucky, but wearing them made Buck feel close. “I need to be there in case someone calls about Buck.”

“You sure you want to take that call?” In the mirror, Maddie saw Chimney approach. His hands on her shoulders eased some of the tension from them. 

Maddie met his eyes in the mirror, took a deep breath. Nodded.

“No,” she said, even as her head bobbed, “but I know I need to. Besides, I don’t think Buck is dead. I would know if he was dead. I’d feel it.” 

“You’d feel it?” Chimney tried to keep his incredulity out of his voice. He didn’t completely succeed, if the sudden wryness in his wife’s gaze was anything to go by. 

“I’d feel it,” Maddie said again, pressing a hand over her heart, “here. Besides,” Maddie stood up, forcing Chimney to drop his hands, and turned to face him. “He didn’t give up on me when Doug took me. Buck did everything he could to find me. I have to do the same for him.”

Even now, years later, talking about Doug could be a tricky thing. The name fell heavy between them, almost a full minute of silence dragging on before Chimney cleared his throat.

“Just promise me that if you do hear from him, you’ll let me know?”

Maddie’s face softened. She reached out to cup her husband’s face, thumb brushing over the faint hint of stubble there. 

“Of course. Just like you would let me know if you heard something.”

“I would.” Chimney missed the warmth of Maddie’s hand when she dropped it again. He shoved his hands into his jean pockets. 

“You want a ride to work today?”

“I’m fine. You stay here and keep an eye on Eddie.”

Right. Eddie. Who was in their shower as they spoke, and had been for almost an hour. Chimney hoped he was almost done, if only for the sake of their hot water bill. 

“Will do. In fact, I’m gonna go make sure he hasn’t drowned himself.”

Chimney jerked his thumb over his shoulder, smiling faintly, then turned and left the room. Maddie waited until he was gone to turn and face the mirror again. Her eyes went to a picture of Buck she kept tucked into one corner. 

“I’m gonna find you, little brother. I promise.”

Another deep breath, and Maddie was ready to face the day. 

Or at least, as ready as she could be.

*** 

Outside of Chimney and Maddie’s door, Bobby’s hand found his wife’s. In his other hand was a reusable grocery bag full of baked goods. 

“It’s probably not going to be very uplifting in there.”

“Can you blame them?” Athena gave her husband a sharp look, leaned forward, reaching out to press the doorbell. “Buck is missing. Hell, the only reason I’m still walking around is because I’m the only person I trust to do something about it.”

“I won’t tell Agent Cooper you said that.”

“Until Agent Cooper allows me to speak to the man we have in custody, I don’t trust her--Maddie.” Athena pasted on a bright smile when the door opened to reveal her friend. Taking in her appearance, one eyebrow raised slightly. “You’re going to work?”

“Athena, hey. Uh, yeah.” Maddie glanced down at her outfit, then back up at Athena. “I thought it might be a good idea. You know, in case Buck calls.”

“I…” Athena felt her husband squeeze her hand; when she glanced at him, he shook his head slightly. “Well, Bobby and I are just here to drop off some muffins.”

Maddie’s eyes flickered to the bag and then back up to Athena’s face. She smiled. Athena almost took a step back.

“That’s so sweet. You can go ahead and go inside, put them in the kitchen. I think Chimney’s still in there. Eddie’s showering.” Maddie rolled her eyes. “Has been for the last hour.” 

“Maddie, are you...alright?” Athena asked the question hesitantly, not sure if it was the right idea to mention her friend’s unusual mood. 

“Buck is missing, Athena, of course I’m not alright.” For a second, the smile dropped from Maddie’s face. “But I’m going to work, which means game face. Right now, waiting for a call from Buck is pretty much the only way I can help him.”

That made much more sense. Athena’s concern alleviated just enough that she nodded, gave Maddie’s arm a squeeze as she slipped past them. 

“I’ll talk to you soon, okay? Call me if you find out _ anything_.” 

“You know I will.” Athena turned just enough to watch Maddie scamper down the walkway to her car. Turning back to Bobby, she sighed.

“That girl’s gonna do something stupid.”

“She is a Buckley, after all.” 

Athena squeezed her husband’s hand again. 

“Well, I better go with her, then.”

“Probably,” Bobby agreed. He leaned down to kiss her cheek. Athena closed her eyes for a moment, relishing the gesture. Untangling her fingers from his, Athena followed after her. 

“Maddie! Maddie, wait a minute…”

Bobby shook his head, tracking them for a few seconds longer before he moved his attention to what was happening inside the house. He stepped into it, shutting the door behind him, and looked around.

Chimney’s head poked out from around the kitchen corner. 

“Oh, hey, Cap.”

“Hey, Chimney. Maddie let me in as she was leaving.” Bobby gestured behind himself. “Athena went with her.” 

“And you stayed to check on your team. How thoughtful.”

“I brought muffins.” Chimney’s face fell, and Bobby frowned. “They’re blueberry, your favorite.”

“I appreciate it, really. It’s just that I ordered takeout last night and none of it was eaten, either.” 

Bobby considered this. He pulled out his phone as he walked deeper into the house, towards Chimney. 

“I think we can take care of that,” he said, sending off a quick text to Hen. He set the bag of muffins down on the Han kitchen counter. “Maddie mentioned that Eddie’s been in the shower awhile?”

“Yeah, but don’t worry,” Chimney was already poking into the bag, “I checked, and he’s not trying to drown himself. Honestly, I think he’s crying in there.” 

“Well, if he is, that’s none of our business.” 

Chimney considered this with a mouth full of muffin. Bobby thought, idly and not for the first time, that he looked a little bit like a squirrel when his cheeks puffed out like that. Or maybe a hamster. Harry had just gotten one. 

Athena hated it. The thought made Bobby smile slightly, which earned him a weird look from Chimney. 

“I was just thinking about Harry’s hamster.”

“If you’re implying I look like a rodent when I eat,” Chimney said, swallowing his mouthful between words, “at least it’s something cute like a hamster, and not a rat.”

“I never said--”

“Captain, come on. You were staring at me while I ate, and then said you were thinking about a hamster.”

“Fine. Sometimes when you eat you look like a hamster.”

“Like I said,” Chimney took another bite of his muffin, “At least I’m cute.”

***

Athena buckled before she spoke, turning her whole body to look at Maddie as the other woman began pulling away from the curb.

“So, you mind telling me what crazy thing you have planned to rescue your brother?”

“What?” Maddie laughed slightly. “I don’t have anything crazy planned.”

“Mmhm.” Athena didn’t buy that for a minute. “I recognize the look from your brother’s face when you were kidnapped. You might be better at hiding it, and you might have a different last name, but that Buckley Crazy-Stupid is still in you, Maddie.”

Maddie gave a startled laugh. 

“That Buckley Crazy-Stupid,” she repeated. “That’s...one way of describing it, I guess.” She glanced at Athena for a second before returning her eyes to the road. “Fine. I might have something that I’m going to do. But it’s not crazy or stupid or even that big of a deal.”

“Does Chimney know?”

“If I told Chimney, he would tell me not to do it.”

“Your husband has some sense, you know.” Sometimes Athena wondered how the man put up with his wife running around pulling stunts the way she did. Then she remembered her own husband and almost felt guilty.

Almost. 

“So does yours, but you still went along with our plan without telling him.”

“Touche.” Athena glanced out her window. “So what is it exactly you’re planning?”

“I know that our systems can’t trace the number that the previous 9-1-1 calls were made from, or even the service,” Maddie began, turning on her blinker, “We’re totally blocked. But Josh used to date this hacker guy, and he thinks he can get behind whatever it is that’s blocking us.”

“You don’t think the FBI is working on that very thing?” Athena demanded, mostly to hide how impressed she was at Maddie’s line of thinking. The plan might have just been crazy. 

“I think the FBI is working on a lot of different things. I appreciate that they’re trying to find my brother, I really do, but how many leads are they following right now?”

“These things take time--”

“Which Buck might not have.” Maddie pulled up in front of a dingy-looking apartment complex, parked. She turned to face Athena. “So, hacker. You don’t have to come in.”

Athena studied her face for a moment, then rolled her eyes. 

“And leave you without backup? Yes, I do have to come in.” 

She unbuckled and got out of the car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think, please!


	14. come undone in this mad season

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Athena and Maddie meet a helpful, if shady, character.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone else every watch Flashpoint? When I think about Hacker Guy, I see David Paetkau. 
> 
> Also, please bear with me. I know very little about technology. I'm an old man.
> 
> **This chapter contains a homophobic slur.**

Eddie left the shower when his skin was so hot he felt it might start blistering, and the water started to have bursts of cold. Towel wrapped around his waist, he wiped down the steamy mirror, stared at his reflection. 

Dark circles emphasized the hollow look in his bloodshot eyes, and stubble shadowed his cheeks. Eddie rubbed a hand over his jaw, dragged it through damp hair. Took a deep breath and reminded himself that Chimney and Maddie were both out there, and he had to keep it together for them. Especially for Maddie. Buck’s sister had more of a right to fall apart over him missing than Eddie did. 

Eddie had barely moved past best friend and into boyfriend territory. Regardless of how many years in the making it had been, they had only just started dating. Eddie falling apart would be selfish. 

“_Encontrarán a Buck_,” he muttered to himself, the litany that Eddie had been repeating from the moment he’d realized something had happened to him. They would find Buck, and Buck would be fine, and things would go back to normal. Better than normal, because Eddie would be able to love Buck freely.

With those thoughts in his head, Eddie finished drying off, pulled on the sweats and shirt he’d borrowed from Chimney to sleep in the night before. Eddie was bulkier and a couple of inches taller, so the fit wasn’t great, but it covered him and it was more comfortable than jeans and a button up. 

He wasn’t expecting more people when he finally left the bathroom, but more people were there. The Captain, Hen and Karen… Eddie was surprised Denny hadn’t tagged along until he remembered that technically, it was a school day.

School. It sounded so normal. Christopher was probably at school, Eddie realized, glancing at the clock on the kitchen wall. He ignored everyone in the kitchen, going straight for the pot of coffee.

“Glad to see you survived the shower,” Chimney said, from where he was leaning against the counter close to the microwave. A container of Chinese takeout rotated in the machine, which hummed merrily. “We were about to build a submarine.”

“Uh, yeah.” Eddie glanced at him because it would be rude not to. “Your hot water heater is amazing.”

“One of the reasons Maddie and I bought the place.” Eddie could feel Chimney studying him. His back stiffened, jaw clenching briefly. “We’re just reheating all the food from last night. Figured we can hunker down here and wait to hear from Athena and Maddie.”

Eddie grunted, grabbing a cup from the cupboard above his head, flipping it over. He watched as the coffee he poured splashed and steamed, rapidly filling the gray ceramic. Then his brain caught up with what Chimney had said, and he looked up, around the kitchen.

“Maddie left?”

“She went to work.” 

“She said she went to work,” Bobby said, causing both men to turn their attention to him. Chimney’s brow furrowed. The microwave beeped, and he took the container out of it, tossing his question over his shoulder.

“You think she was lying about going to work?”

“I’m sure she’ll get there eventually.”

“Wait, is that why Athena didn’t stay? She’s keeping an eye on Maddie?”

“Something like that.” 

Chimney groaned. 

“You’d think I would learn to recognize the signs of my wife going off on a crusade.”

“You would,” Hen agreed, stealing the container from him to check the contents. Princess Chicken. She added some to her plate. “But you haven’t.”

“Do you know what they’re planning?” Eddie took a sip of his coffee, eyes going towards Bobby. The captain shook his head slightly.

“They haven’t checked in yet, but they also haven’t been gone that long. When they know something, we’ll know something.” 

Moving around the island towards where Eddie was standing, Bobby put his hand on the younger man’s shoulder.

“How are you holding up? You doing okay?”

Grim eyes raised to meet Bobby’s, Eddie shrugging listlessly. 

“Buck is missing, Cap. How okay can I be?”

Bobby didn’t have an answer for him.

*** 

Having Athena with her made Maddie feel a lot better about knocking on the apartment door in front of her. One of the numbers was upside-down, paint was peeling off it, and there were scrape marks all along the hallway floor. If she had been alone, Maddie might have just turned around and left.

Or she would have if it wasn’t Buck on the line.

Steeling her nerves, Maddie rapped her knuckles against the wood. Paint chips fell to the floor. There was no response, but she could hear someone moving around inside the apartment.

She knocked again. 

There was the sound of a bolt being slid out of place. Then a chain. Then another bolt. This went on for almost a minute--Maddie counted a dozen locks that she could hear being undone.

She exchanged a glance with Athena, eyebrows raised. Athena rolled her eyes, hand resting loosely on her holstered gun. 

The door opened, just a crack. Apparently one chain was still in place, and an eye peaked out from the narrow opening it afforded the person on the other side of the door. 

“Who is it?”

“Uh, hi.” Maddie raised her hand, waving slightly. “I’m Maddie Han. I work with Josh at the emergency call center? He told me you might be able to help me.”

“Josh?” The door slammed shut, making Maddie jump. There was the scrape of another chain being undone, and then the door flew open.

The man in front of her was not what Maddie had been expecting. Hacker brought to might a scrawny, bespectacled man, not a blond, blue eyed bodybuilder. Even knowing Josh’s type, Maddie was a little taken aback. 

“Josh sent people to me for a favor, huh?” The man leaned against his doorframe, a toothpick dangling out of his mouth. “I knew that would happen eventually.” Pushing away from the wall, the man turned, walked further into his apartment. 

“Um, can we...come in?” Maddie exchanged another glance with Athena. Rather than answer her verbally, the man waved them both into his apartment. 

Athena’s nose wrinkled at the stale smell of marijuana, musty. There was a bong sitting on the coffee table that the man led them too, next to a laptop, but what caught Athena’s attention was the massive computer set-up where most people had a television. At least eight screens, two of them clearly hacked into streetlight feeds in the neighborhood.

Hacker, indeed. If they hadn’t needed his help, she would have been reaching for her handcuffs. 

“So what is it you need? Parking ticket gone? Gender changed on a driver’s license?”

“Um, no. Nothing like that.” Maddie reached into her purse, rummaging through it until she pulled out what appeared to Athena to be some sort of hard drive. “I need you to see if you can get past whatever has a number blocked in our system. We can’t even tell who the provider is.”

“You took that from your work?” Athena asked, disapproval all over her face. Maddie shrugged. 

“Josh helped. I am not technologically savvy at all. I’m honestly not even sure what’s on here.” 

Without a word, Josh’s ex took the hard drive from Maddie, turning it over in his hands a couple of times with a hum. He went over to his wall of computers, kneeling down below one and fiddling with a tower that Athena guessed was connected to one of them. A keyboard appeared out of nowhere, and he began typing into it. 

Maddie shifted her weight from foot to foot, pulled out her phone to check for messages. Next to her, Athena did the same. 

After a few minutes, Josh’s ex stood up again, shaking his head and coming back.

“Their entire system is rigged. The phone’s a burner, and they’ve set it up so that it generates a random number every time you try to trace it. You can’t pin down a provider because the randomized numbers are all attached to different providers. Really, it’s genius work.” There was a hint of excitement in his voice that had Maddie frowning.

“The guy’s a serial killer,” she snapped, crossing her arms over his chest. The hacker shrugged.

“He’s still got mad skills. They’re literally pinging you all over the place on an untraceable device.”

Maddie’s shoulders slumped. “So there’s no way to track this guy?”

“Not with old call info.” With a shake of his head, the hacker turned the hard drive over to Maddie again. “You’d need something that can hack past their blocks while they’re on the line.” 

“And can you help with that?”

The hacker sniffed, looked Athena up and down. 

“You a cop?”

“The gun give it away?”

“The attitude, actually. So, no, I can’t help.”

“What?” Maddie began, but Athena held up her hand.

“You listen to me. There are a lot of things in this apartment I could bust you for. Things you have open and out that could give me cause to come back with a warrant. I’m willing to overlook those things and whatever illegal thing you have to do to help us, but only _ if _ you help us. Understood?”

Scowling, Josh’s ex looked between Maddie and Athena, then to where Athena’s hand was resting once more on her gun. Then his shoulders slumped and he nodded. 

“Fine.”

“Good boy.”

*** 

Elaine felt a stress headache coming on. She rubbed at her temples, elbows planted on her desk with so much pressure that they would probably end up bruised. Around her was the sound of bickering FBI agents. 

Cooper placed a hand on her shoulder, letting it slide down her back, set a mug of what smelled like cocoa down in front of her.

“To relax you.”

“Just like college,” Elaine murmured, tilting her head up to shoot Cooper a grateful smile. “How did you remember?”

“Some things, you don’t forget.” Cooper winked at her, smiling back. She leaned against the desk next to Elaine, hand still on her shoulder. “How are you holding up?”

Elaine groaned, shaking her head. 

“I’m worried about Athena. I don’t know Buck that well, but that woman views the firefighters of station 118 as family, and I know she’s particularly fond of him.”

“And you’re fond of her.”

“I’ve known her since she was a rookie.” Elaine sighed. “She’s one of the best cops I’ve ever met, even if she does have a tendency to go rogue when it suits her.”

“Is that what she’s doing now?” Cooper was referring, of course, to the fact that Athena was supposed to have joined them half an hour ago.

“I have no idea,” Elaine told her, rather than say the truth, which was that she damn well hoped so. 

“Well, with or without her, we have an interview with Mr. Owens to get to. I’m hoping we can get something out of him that will lead us to our other unsub.” 

“Who’s going to be doing the interview?”

“Me,” Cooper said. She dropped her hand from Elaine’s shoulder, standing up straight again. “Want to come watch?”

“If it’ll get me out of this room, absolutely.”

She followed Cooper’s laughter out into the hall. 

***

The lights were too bright. 

Mason had never been very good with bright lights. It was how they’d confused him. The bright lights, the noises. 

The dyke fighting back. 

She hadn’t been supposed to fight back.

Hands balling into fists, Mason jerked his wrists up, smashed them down into the table. It wasn’t the first time he’d done it since they’d left him in that room, with the steel gray walls and the big mirror that Mason knew went both ways. 

Someone was standing on the other side, watching him. 

His fists made a thud, the raw skin on his wrists from his attempts to break the cuffs splitting open again, but the table didn’t budge, and neither did the chains holding him there. 

The door opened, and a woman stepped into the room. Mason sneered at her.

“Hello, Mr. Owens.” 

“I want a lawyer.”

It was the only thing Mason had said since they picked him up. Demanding a lawyer was what he’d been told to do.

The woman nodded, pulling out the chair across from him and sitting down. 

“Someone is on their way. Until they get here, though, would you like to talk to me?”

“No.” Mason’s lower lip jut out, wobbling slightly. “Not supposed to talk to you. Just my lawyer.”

The woman nodded again. Mason could tell she felt sorry for him.

He felt sorry for himself, too.

“Somebody told you that, huh? That you should ask for a lawyer if you get in trouble?”

“Been in trouble before.”

“I can see that.” The woman held up a folder Mason hadn’t noticed her having before. “A few times. Nothing as serious as trying to hurt someone, though.”

“Not someone. A dyke.”

“That’s not a very nice word, Mason.”

“It’s what she was.”

“And that means you can hurt her?”

“If we get rid of all the queers, I can be a hero.”

The woman leaned back, studying Mason with an expression that made him squirm in his chair. It wasn’t a very nice look to give someone. 

“Mason, why would that make you a hero?”

“Because,” Mason began, “if they stop taking jobs, there will be a space for me.”

“You want to be a firefighter, Mason?”

Mason looked up, feeling strangely calm.

“I want to be a hero.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hacker guy needs a name. Any suggestions? Comment with them! Or just with your feedback. It is always appreciated.


	15. live your life in a crawl space

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some conversation and an escape (attempt).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's right! Two for one today! I know this chapter is short and mostly filler, but it is necessary for moving the plot forward.

“Well? How did it go?”

At least Josh had waited until Maddie was settled in before he started his interrogation. Maddie glanced over her shoulder at him, looked around for Sue before she turned around completely. Rolling her chair closer, she leaned in slightly.

“It went well. He couldn’t trace it with what you gave me, but he gave me something that should be able to get us what we need.”

“Does he know why we can’t do that already?” If there was some new technology that blocked dispatch from being able to track calls, they would need to know about it even without a serial killer running around using it. 

“He thinks it’s some new program that generates a new number every time a person makes a phone call, but I’m not sure how accurate that is.” Maddie shrugged. 

“Wouldn’t we be able to at least pull up those random numbers, if that’s the case? Every time we’ve tried they’ve been blocked.”

Again, Maddie shrugged. “You’ll have to ask him.”

Josh made a face.

“No, thank you.”

“Bad breakup?”

“The worst.” Rolling his eyes, Josh shook his head. “I’ll spare you the details, but trust me when I say dating a hacker is not the hugely romantic thing it appears to be.”

“I...never would have used the word romantic.” Maddie studied her friend. “He said hi.”

“He did _ not_.”

“No, he didn’t. He wasn’t surprised you sent us to him, though.”

Josh made another face, turning away from Maddie. He muttered something she couldn’t quite make out. 

Shrugging once again, Maddie rolled back to her station, turning around to face her monitor. Another look around for Sue, and she was pulling out a usb stick from her coat pocket. Maddie inserted it into the port she’d been instructed to. 

Then all she had to do was wait. 

***

The worst part, Buck decided, wasn’t the raw skin on his wrists, blood slowly trickling down his hands. It wasn’t the headache, or dehydration.

It was not knowing how long he’d been there. 

Not knowing how long the people he loved had been missing him.

All Buck knew was that his whole body ached, and at the same time he was shivering uncontrollably from exhaustion. Falling asleep wasn’t an option, though.

Whoever had taken him hadn’t shown their face since leaving him in his cell. If he fell asleep, they might use the opportunity to dose him up again with whatever it was that had made his vision blurry before. 

Not that he could fight back if they decided to again, with his wrists and ankles bound. At least he would be aware of it, though. Might be able to identify what it was by paying attention to how the effects started.

That was assuming there was even someone else around. Buck hadn’t heard anything in hours, and he was starting to worry that he’d just been abandoned there, left to starve to death.

When the thought occurred to him, Buck’s first impulse was to start shouting again. All of his earlier yelling had been ignored, however, and his throat still felt a little raw. After the initial panic that thought had caused, Buck had calmed himself down. 

If he was left there, he would have to escape. If he hadn’t been left there, then he needed to be ready when his captor came back.

With this thought in mind, Buck started rocking his chair back and forth. At first, it was just a small movement. Momentum caused him to move faster, and Buck found he had enough mobility in his legs to use his feet to push back. Once, again. A third time had the chair falling backwards. 

Buck sucked in a deep breath, shutting his eyes and bracing for impact.

The chair landed on the cement floor, shattered under Buck’s weight as it did.

Unfortunately, Buck’s head also hit the cement floor, and the world went black.

***

“There you are.” 

“Here I am.” Athena’s voice was heavy enough to make Elaine’s shoulders slump. “Did I miss anything?”

Elaine shook her head, watching her friend move further into the room they were using for strategizing. 

“Not particularly. We did interview Mason Owens.”

Athena looked at her sharply. 

“You did the interview without me?”

“Just the preliminary one.” 

“And you didn’t think to call me first?”

“I thought you’d be here for it. I wasn’t expecting you to show up an hour late. What were you doing, anyway?”

Dropping Elaine’s gaze, Athena turned her attention to the whiteboard behind Elaine’s desk, going over to it with her hands on her hips. She scanned the notes there, stepping closer to the picture of Mason. 

“I was helping Buck’s sister with something.”

“Something legal?”

Athena’s lack of an answer was damning in and of itself. Rather than call her out on that, however, Elaine merely changed the subject.

“Well, we found out Mason’s motivation. He thinks if he gets rid of all the ‘queer’ first responders, there will be a spot on one of the teams for him.”

“He come up with that all by himself?” Athena turned around again. Elaine watched the way her face contorted, smoothed into a careful mask. 

“Highly unlikely.”

“Have you managed to get access to his foster care records?”

“Ah...no. But we found out why we can’t.”

“And why is that?”

“Because,” Cooper spoke up from where she’d been sitting in the back of the room, watching the exchange between the two other women, “it’s connected to a sealed criminal record.”

“His?”

“We’re not sure. Cooper’s seeing if she can get them unsealed.” 

“I want to talk to him.”

Cooper and Elaine exchanged a look.

“Are you sure that’s the best idea?” Cooper began, while Elaine began shaking her head.

“He’s lawyered up, Athena. You’re not going to get anything out of him.”

“Is that right?” Athena’s smile sent a shiver down Elaine’s spine. “Why don’t you go ahead and let me try anyway?”

Athena phrased it as a question, but Elaine knew that she wasn’t asking.

"I'll see what I can do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nine more chapters and the epilogue! Ah, I'm so close to being done. Thank you to everyone who has been on this journey with me so far.


	16. there'll be a price to pay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to comment. I know I don't respond to everyone, but I read each and every one and they definitely fuel my inspiration.

Mason’s lawyer had come and gone when Athena stepped into the holding cell where he was being kept. At first, the man didn’t appear to notice that she’d entered the room. Watching him carefully, Athena closed the cell door behind her, nodded to one of the officers on guard duty to go ahead and lock her in with him. 

Once she took a step towards him, Mason looked up. His big, ugly face twisted into a sneer. Athena stopped again.

“Go away,” he said, turning his back on her deliberately. 

Athena clenched her fists at her side, took a deep breath in through her nose. 

“I’m not going to do that.”

“Won’t talk to you.” 

“Oh, I think you will.” Athena started walking towards him again as she spoke. “See, I know you know where my friend is, because I know he’s wherever you and your partner hid your victims. And you’re going to tell me where that is, because if you don’t, and I have to find it on my own, it won’t go pretty for your partner.” 

“Won’t matter when you find him. Your friend is already dead.”

Athena went still. If Mason had been looking at her, he might have compared her expression to that of a snake, ready to strike. He at the very least would have felt a sliver of fear. As it was, her face cleared into something more neutral, and Mason never noticed.

“If Buck is dead, you and your partner will be too. You can be sure of that.”

“Threatening me is illegal.” 

“You know what else is illegal?” Athena moved quickly, dropping down to look Mason in his dull eyes. “Killing people. People I know. People I care about. And all for what? So you can have a place on a team of heroes? Well, I’ve got news for you. If you had to _ kill _ to get on that team, you are never going to be a hero.” 

Athena stood up and stepped away swiftly, moving back towards the front of the cell. She gestured for the door to be unlocked as she approached, stepped outside just as Mason’s lumbering steps reached them. The officer with her slammed the door shut and locked it quickly. 

“You bitch,” Mason growled out, hammy fists shaking the bars of his cell. “What would you know anyway? Diversity hire. You’re only captain to fill a quota.” 

“Boy, you don’t know anything about the way these things work,” Athena scoffed. “I worked hard and I earned this title. The only thing you’ve earned is a prison sentence.” 

“My brother won’t let that happen.”

Mason didn’t seem to notice his slip, but Athena did. It took every bit of carefully self-trained control not to react to his words. She leaned in, careful to keep out of Mason’s reach. 

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” 

Mason made a swipe for her anyway, his fingers coming up with empty air. He growled once more, shaking the bars again. 

“You’re never going to find him.” 

To that, Athena had no response. It was what she worried over too. Rather than admit it, however, she turned on her heel, started walking away.

“We’re not done!” Mason yelled after her. “You hear me, bitch? You’re no better than those queers!”

Once she was out of eyesight around a corner, Athena leaned back against the wall, telling herself that her knees weren’t shaking. 

Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she dialed a familiar number.

“Rick, it’s Athena. Are you at the station right now?” At Rick’s affirmative, Athena let a slow grin overtake her face. “Good, because I need a favor.”

***

By some unspoken agreement, Hen and Chimney steered away from Buck’s more amorous exploits as they recounted tales of his early days at the 118. Eddie supposed that he should be grateful. He knew about Abby, of course, and Buck himself had admitted he had a phase where he’d done a lot of hooking up. That didn’t mean Eddie wanted to hear about his boyfriend’s youthful indiscretions. 

“Okay, okay, I’ve got one. Remember the time we found a baby in the wall? It had been flushed down the toilet, and Buck went off on Athena for wanting the mother to live?”

“Sometimes I forget how much she used to dislike him,” Chimney said, popping a piece of muffin into his mouth and leaning a little more heavily on his elbows, which rested on the kitchen counter. 

“Man, he was a little punk back then.” Hen shook her head.

“Always had a heart of gold, though,” Bobby interjected from where he’d already begun cleaning up the mess from their feasting. “He just needed the right influence.”

“Not even you would have liked him if you knew him back then, Eddie. Buck was awful. All stereotypical fuck boy.”

Somewhere along the way, a bottle of wine had been opened, and then another. Hen had lost count of how many glasses she’d had when Karen finally plucked hers out of her hand and gave her water instead. Her tongue was still loosened from the alcohol, unfortunately. She missed the warning look Chimney gave her.

Eddie wished that he were anywhere but in that kitchen, a desire that only got stronger when Hen’s hand landed heavy on his shoulder.

“You really helped him grow up, you know. I mean, Abby was the start, but you and Christopher...you two changed him.”

Jaw clenching, Eddie shrugged Hen off, stood up and went to help Bobby with the dishes. He accepted a rag for drying without a word. 

“I think what Hen’s trying to say is thank you,” Chimney joked, watching Eddie’s back tense, then slowly, deliberately relax again. The other man hung his head, shook it low. 

“Hey, you know what I was thinking about the other day? The time Buck and I got stuck delivering a maternity yoga class full of babies.” Bobby chuckled. 

“Oh, man, I forgot about that.” Hen threw her head back, cackling. “Didn’t Buck try to convince them to name one of the babies after you two?”

“He did.” Bobby’s grin faded as he glanced at Eddie, who had gone still, towel hangling loosely from his hand. “You alright there, Eddie?”

“Sure,” Eddie agreed, tone flat. “I’m fine. I’d just appreciate it if we stop talking about Buck like we’re at his goddamn _ wake_.” Eddie’s fists hit the counter, palms flattening against it. He sucked in a sharp breath, turned around to face his team. “He’s not dead. Quit acting like he’s dead.”

“Eddie,” Hen began, eyes wide, “_Nobody’s _\--” 

“Then what else would you call it? Telling stories about the things he’s done like he’s not coming back. But he’s going to come back. We’re going to get him back.”

“None of us think we won’t, Eddie,” Chimney promised, glancing in concern at Bobby for his cues. Bobby, however, was studying the side of Eddie’s face. Chimney was on his own. “We’re just trying to stay positive.”

“Find another way to do it.”

“Alright,” Bobby agreed, before Chimney or Hen could speak again. “Okay, we will. Hey, where did Karen get off to? I have a couple of questions I wanted to ask her about things Harry’s been learning in his astronomy unit.”

“Oh, she’s probably found something to clean.”

“Ooh,” Chimney perked up, “I hope it’s the bathroom.”

Hen cuffed the back of his head, and the moment passed, swept away by their bickering. 

Eddie met Bobby’s eyes again, gave him a slight, grateful nod, and picked up another dish to dry.

*** 

Maddie could feel frustration start to creep in the longer she waited for the right call. She tried to keep it out of her voice, stay professional. Stay helpful, and rush all the wrong callers off the line. They might not have been the creep that kidnapped her brother, but that just meant that they needed her help. 

So did Buck, though, and it was hard to prioritize anyone else over her missing baby brother. 

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” Maddie answered with her usual line, palm in her chin. Her eyes stared at the screen, taking a few seconds to comprehend what she was seeing. 

The call’s number and location kept flickering, almost like her screen was glitching. Some of the numbers seemed to get stuck between transitions, a seven at the top, eight at the bottom, a four that kept flickering to a three and back. 

Even before he spoke, Maddie knew who would be on the other end of the call.

“Maddie Han.”

“Psycho,” Maddie greeted, word coming out of her mouth so sharp it almost cut her tongue. “Where is my brother?”

“Where is my partner?”

“In custody,” Maddie told him, barely controlling her rage. “Where he belongs.”

“I see. Then you don’t get to know where your brother is.”

_ “What?_”

“I want my partner back. You have twelve hours.” 

“Wait--”

The call ended before Maddie could get anything else out, and she slumped back in her hair. 

On her screen, half a phone number and what looked like the beginning of geographical coordinates flashed in bright blue letters. Reaching for a pad of paper and a pen, Maddie quickly scribbled them down, then sent a text with the information to Athena.

It was a start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know, as always. what you think.


	17. just hold on to me, i'll hold on to you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things start to look up...if you're an optimist.

Eddie’s phone was vibrating on the counter.

Hen noticed first, pausing in mid-sentence just after the noise started. Her eyes followed the sound, and Chimney’s eyes followed hers, face scrunched up in confusion. Normally one of their samurais versus cowboys debates could go for hours. 

Maddie’s face and name lit up the screen. 

The Captain noticed next, as he’d been half-listening to their conversation with the slightest smile on his face, although he kept his opinions to himself. 

Eddie wasn’t been paying attention to anything. His eyes stared, dark, unreadable, down at the cold black coffee in his cup. His hands were wrapped around the ceramic, only warm because of Eddie’s hands at that point. 

The first time he and Buck had grabbed coffee together, Eddie had ordered what he always ordered: medium black, no room, lighter roast if they had it. Buck had ordered a latte with something like three syrups in it. Eddie could remember vanilla, and caramel, but the third syrup was a blank. 

Eddie had tasted it, he remembered, because Buck insisted that it was delicious, and his lips had tasted too sweet for hours afterwards. 

“Eddie.” A hand landed on his shoulder, causing Eddie to jump slightly. He looked up to see Hen, face soft with concern. He got the impression it wasn’t the first time his name had been said. “Your phone is ringing.”

At first, Eddie didn’t get what she meant. Then, finally, his ears picked up on the buzzing. His eyes darted to his phone. 

In a flurry of movement, Eddie sat up straight, set his mug down so close to the edge of the table Hen had to grab it and move it back to keep it from falling off, and reached for his phone. The icons had the top showed him that he had two missed calls, but Maddie had called again. 

He nearly barked out her name when he answered, holding the phone so tightly his knuckles were white. 

“Maddie.”

“Eddie,” she breathed, “Good, you answered. Listen, I wanted to let you know--Buck’s alive. The guy who has him, he called me.”

Relief welled up in Eddie so strong his eyes stung from it, knees buckling. He barely caught himself on the counter, leaning against it. Bobby moved to his side, not touching, but close enough to reach out if he needed to. 

“Gracias Dios,” he breathed out, tilting his face up with his eyes closed. “Gracias, gracias Dios, Buck está vivo.” The hand not holding the phone scrubbed over Eddie’s face, wiping away dampness. He sniffed, shook his head. “What--what did he say?” 

“He said that he wants his partner back. He’ll tell us where Buck is if we get Mason Owens released.” 

_ “What?” _Thoughts racing, Eddie turned to look at Chimney, although he wasn’t really seeing him. There was no way the FBI was going to release a serial killer to save the life of one firefighter. Buck was alive, but he wasn’t safe. 

“So, then, we have nothing.”

“Not true. We have a partial phone number, a partial location. Athena and the FBI are on the way to the call center right now. We’ve got enough to start looking for him, Eddie.”

“Then we’re going to find him.”

“We’re going to find him.” 

After making Maddie promise to continue to keep Eddie posted, he ended the call, set his phone back down. 

There were a few moments of silence in the kitchen before Bobby broke it by speaking.

“You okay?”

Letting out a shaking breath, Eddie nodded. 

“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, Cap, I’m good.” 

He meant it.

***

After Maddie got off the phone with Eddie, she took a deep breath of her own. Even over a cell phone connection, she had been able to feel Eddie’s relief. It had her own heart racing slightly, tears making her lashes damp. She managed to keep them from falling, though.

What she’d told Eddie had been the truth. They had enough to start looking for Buck, and she truly believed they were going to find Buck, alive. They had twelve hours to do it. 

Maddie just hoped that they could do it in twelve hours. That they managed to sort through everything they had and come up with enough else to find the guy who had Buck, and find her brother while they were at it, in the time span the creep had given them. Because if they didn’t, well…

Then maybe they wouldn’t be finding Buck alive.

Maddie didn’t want to think about that. She shivered, pulled her sweater more tightly closed. The sound of wheels rolling across the floor caught her attention; she wasn’t surprised to turn her head and see Josh had taken position next to her. 

“How did he take it?” 

“Like it was the answer to his prayers.” Maddie sighed. “I’m glad that I called, but I wish I felt as confident as he does about what it means.” 

“You’re not.”

“There’s still just so much that could go wrong,” Maddie explained. “As much as I want to think that this means we’re going to find Buck, and find him in time, I know that’s not necessarily going to be the case.” 

As many dead end calls as Maddie had taken over the years, she knew that there wasn’t always a happy ending. Buck had already gotten luck several times. 

Josh reached out, taking one of Maddie’s hands in his. The show of affection startled her; Josh didn’t touch if he could help it. 

“I have known you and your brother long enough to know that the two of you don’t give up on each other, Maddie. If you start now, I’ll lose all sense of reality.”

Maddie’s chuckle was watery. 

“Guess I’ll have to keep hoping, then.”

“You had better.” 

“Maddie.” Sue’s interruption had both Maddie and Josh turning towards her, standing a few feet away. Behind her was Athena, as well as half a dozen people in suits and ties. “The FBI is here to speak with you.”

From Sue’s tone, Maddie knew she and her boss would be having a conversation later. She stood up, keeping her head bowed as she approached the group. 

“You can use a conference room,” Sue told her, gesturing towards the rooms at the other end of the pen. 

“Thank you, Sue.” Maddie gave Athena a tight smile. “And thank you for coming.”

“Of course,” Athena said, her smile a little more genuine. “Let’s get started.”

*** 

“Hey.” 

The good news about Buck had the men in the kitchen looser and more relaxed than they had been in days. Hen took the opportunity to seek out her wife, found her in the laundry room folding clothes. Leaning in the doorway, Hen folded her arms, watching her wife with a fond expression.

“Hey.” Karen glanced over her shoulder, giving Hen a small smile. “You know, someone should tell your friends that they’d spend a lot less time ironing if they hung their clothes up straight from the dryer.”

“Baby, you are not going to iron for them.” Hen shook her head, laughed. “Also, I’m not sure they’d appreciate the advice.”

Pushing off of the doorframe, Hen sauntered over to where her wife was standing, came up behind her. She settled her hands on Karen’s hips, slid them around her waist, rested her chin on Karen’s shoulder. 

“I love you.”

“Well, I love you too.” Karen looked at her again, as best she could with Hen where she was. The angle was a little awkward, but she managed. She gave one of Hen’s hands a pat, went back to folding clothes. 

“No, I mean...I _ really _ love you. And I am so, so grateful for every day I’ve gotten to spend with you.” 

Karen said nothing, simply turned in Hen’s arms and put her hands on her shoulders. Her eyes searched Hen’s, bright with worry. 

“What’s wrong? Did you get bad news about Buck?”

“No, no.” Hen shook her head, reeled Karen in just a little bit closer, until she couldn’t pull her any nearer. “Actually, Maddie called with good news. I’m just...feeling thankful.”

“Thankful.”

“Thankful. Full of gratitude,” Hen’s arms slid up Karen’s back, around to her arms, rubbed her hands up and down for a few seconds before her hands framed her wife’s face. “Because I’m lucky enough to have built a life with the woman I love, and to have had so much time with you… And because I know I get more time with you.”

“Unless you cut it short with one of your crazy stunts,” Karen reminded her, pulling back when Hen leaned in for a kiss, eyebrows raised. “If you don’t get yourself killed, Hen, one of these days I might do it myself.”

Hen laughed, leaned in again. This time Karen allowed it, wrapping her arms around her wife’s neck. They kissed softly for a long moment, Karen’s eyes fluttering open when Hen pulled back. 

“I’m glad that they have a lead on Buck.” 

“Me, too,” Hen agreed, voice barely above a whisper. “You know, if something happens to him, I’ll feel like it’s my fault.”

She pulled away, breathing in deeply, although she stayed close enough for her hands to stay on Karen’s hips, Karen’s on her shoulders. Karen lifted on to stroke the back of it down Hen’s cheek.

“I know you will. But I’ll be here to tell you that it won’t be.”

“Honestly, I feel like it’s my fault he even got taken at all. If he hadn’t been with me that night…”

“He wanted to be with you,” Karen reminded her. “Hen. Henrietta, look at me.” It was Karen’s turn to cup Hen’s face, tilt it down so that their eyes met. “That boy would never have let you do something like that alone, no matter the consequence.”

“But the consequence shouldn’t be his life. He’s not even out yet. He and Eddie have barely gotten started...”

“It won’t be. They’ll find him. He’ll have years with Eddie.”

“I wish I had your faith,” Hen murmured, kissing Karen’s palm.

“I have enough for both of us.” 

Humming, Hen leaned her forehead against Karen’s. Her eyes closed as she felt Karen’s hand stroking her cheek again. 

Full of love and gratitude.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for taking the time to read this and especially thank you if you take the time to tell me what you think <3.


	18. nothing's gonna comfort me now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hen checks in with Bobby, and Cooper and Maddie clash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for bearing with me as this fic starts drawing to a close! Six more chapters, plus the epilogue. I can't believe how quickly this has gone.

Unfortunately for the firefighters of the 118 family, there were responsibilities that meant not all of them had the luxury of sitting around Chimney’s house waiting for news about Buck. Around two in the afternoon, Karen left to get Denny from school, taking Eddie with her. The plan was to grab him, swing by to pick up Christopher, then come back there. 

Despite the children constantly orbiting their lives, Chimney and Maddie did not have a very kid-friendly house. It wasn’t news, so Hen wasn’t sure why Chimney was freaking out about it.

“All I have are a couple of PG-13 movies that Eddie only kind of tolerates me letting Christopher watch,” the man lamented, crouched down in front of his entertainment cabinet, a stack of DVDs and Blu-Rays next to him. “How am I supposed to keep two pre-teen boys entertained?”

He held up _ Stand By Me_, turned it over to check the back.

“This is a coming of age movie, right? It should be fine.”

“Chimney,” Hen exchanged an amused glance with Bobby, sitting on the couch kiddie-corner to her, “Denny and Chris are probably both going to have homework. Also, they’re friends. I’m sure that they can keep each other entertained.”

“I should at least have board games or something,” Chimney muttered, completely ignoring her. “A deck of cards… UNO! I bet I could pick up a deck of UNO cards at the corner store.”

“You don’t need to do that, Chim,” Hen told him. Not that Chimney heard her. He started putting his movies back quickly, got to his feet. When Hen looked at Bobby again, the older man’s head was ducked to hide his smile. 

Hen tried one more time to stop Chimney, but he left his house in a flurry, abandoning Hen and Bobby to their own devices while he ran around looking for ways to entertain two boys that were almost teenagers.

Shaking her head, smiling herself, she turned slightly to face her captain. 

“You want to go pick up Harry while he’s gone? Really freak Chimney out when he gets back?”

With a chuckle, Bobby stood, going over to Chimney’s entertainment cabinet. He crouched down, opening the door again.

“He’s staying with Michael for a few days,” Bobby declined. “He and Wendell wanted him close, and with everything going on, Athena thought it might be for the best.”

“And what do you think?”

“I think Michael deserves comfort while this is going on, and if having his son there with him gives him that, I’m all for it.” 

“Uh-huh.” Hen hummed, leaned back against the couch. Her head lolled back, eyes closing for what was supposed to be just a second. Enjoying the moment of relaxation. “It must be nice to be able to be so mature about things like that.” 

“Well, he is Harry's father.”

Hen cracked an eye open, studying Bobby. She hummed again, sitting up once more. 

“How you holding up, Cap?”

Bobby sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, dragged his hand down the rest of his face before dropping it. He folded his hands together, elbows resting on his knees as he crouched in front of the entertainment cabinet.

“You know, it’s been a long time since I wanted a drink, but this week has been...hell. First my team makes a dangerous plan without consulting me,” Hen had the decency to look sheepish, “and now Buck is missing. I don’t know, I guess things have just been good for so long that I got comfortable with it.”

“And that makes this that much harder,” Hen murmured, nodding, eyes warm and soft as they studied her captain. “Does Athena know how much you want a drink, Bobby?”

Bobby shook his head. “I don’t want her to worry about me on top of everything else. Besides, as much as I want one, I’m not blowing my years of sobriety.” 

“And if Buck doesn’t make it?” As much as Hen hated asking the question, she had to know, for Athena’s sake, if not the team’s.

Rather than answer, Bobby held up the movie he’d been looking for. _ Stand By Me. _

“It really is a great coming of age story,” he said, shrugging as he stood. “Mind if I put it in?”

Not sure what else to do, Hen shrugged, gesturing for Bobby to do just that. 

***

Buck was getting really tired of waking up with a headache. The one currently making his brain throb was somehow worse than the others had been. Maybe it had something to do with hitting his head on the cement when he fell.

Wincing, Buck opened his eyes. His vision, at least, seemed to have cleared. The rest of him, well…

His arms were stretched over his head, secured to something that didn’t budge no matter how hard he tugged at them. His wrists felt raw, and when Buck glanced up, he saw streaks of dirt and dried blood that trailed down his forearms. His shoulders ached because his feet barely touched the ground; definitely not enough for him to support himself without standing on tiptoe. Buck counted himself lucky that he hadn’t woken up with them dislocated, although there was still time, he supposed. His mouth was parched, lips cracked, tasting metallic when Buck ran his tongue over them in a way that made him think they’d bled too. 

Looking up again, Buck tried to see just what he was hooked to. The room was dark, though, barely any light filtering in. What little did came through a high, thin, rectangular window that cast more shadows than illuminated anything. 

So, that escape plan hadn’t worked. Buck hadn’t really thought it through, he admitted to himself. Getting off the chair had seemed like a good start, but he hadn’t done it carefully enough, and now he was even worse off. 

“Good job, Buck,” he muttered to himself. “Super stellar. Everyone who knows you would expect nothing less.”

At least now he knew that he hadn’t been abandoned by whoever had taken him. If they were there to hang him up, it didn’t matter than Buck couldn’t hear them.

Maybe he could talk to them. If he could just get them to look at them, reason with them… Buck knew he could be charming, when he wanted to. 

He jerked at his arms again. 

“C’mon, Buck, think.” Swaying slightly in the air, he kicked his feet. It sped him up, lifting him a little higher in the air. Like he was on a swing. 

_ Like he was on a swing. _ Buck’s head snapped up from where it had started to sag, chin sinking into his chest. Looking towards the ceiling again, Buck began twisting his hands, trying to feel what he was hooked to, since he couldn’t see it. 

He thought about Maddie. About Eddie, and Christopher. Pictured the looks on their faces if Buck didn’t come back to them. He’d seen Eddie devastated, seen Maddie broken, and knew they would both survive, but the thought of putting an expression like that on Christopher’s face was what pushed him forward. 

Taking a deep breath, Buck wrapped his hands around the hook holding him up, ignoring the way the point dug into one of his palms, and pulled himself up as high as he could. He started swinging his legs, a little bit at first, then more, faster, wider arcs. 

All too soon, however, exhaustion had him panting, dropping down to hang limply once more. His head dropped too, eyes closing. 

He wasn’t giving up, Buck assured himself.

He just needed a break.

***

“Where did you say you got this software?” 

Cooper held up the USB stick that Maddie had gotten from Josh’s ex. She glanced at Athena, then back at the FBI agent, shrugged. 

“Amazon?”

“This software isn’t available on Amazon,” Cooper said with a snort. Maddie wasn’t sure if she was amused or not. The woman was intimidating. Not quite as intimidating as Athena, but Maddie _ knew _ Athena. She didn’t know Cooper, and she didn’t know how much trouble she was in for having the software. 

“It must have been a gift, then.” Maddie shrugged, chuckling nervously. She jumped a little when Athena put her hand on Maddie’s shoulder. 

“It’s alright, Maddie. You can tell them.”

Maddie glanced back at Athena, took a deep breath through her nose and nodded. 

“A friend of mine sent me to someone who created that software. He did it to help me with finding Buck.”

Cooper made a soft noise of understanding, tapping the USB stick against the palm of her hand. She turned to the man standing behind her, handed it to him. 

“See if you can break this down,” she murmured, and he nodded, seemed to melt back into the shadows between one blink and the next.

“I’m going to want the name of your friend, Mrs. Han,” Cooper turned her attention back to Maddie, who squirmed in her seat. 

“What, right now?”

Cooper paused, blinked. Clearly, she hadn’t been expecting that question.

“It’s just that I thought we were here to talk about finding Buck, not to interrogate me for doing what I had to in order to do that,” Maddie explained. 

“We...are.” Cooper came around the conference table, leaned against it next to Maddie, looking down at her. Studying the way Cooper’s arms folded, her expression unreadable, it was obvious to Maddie she was supposed to feel small in her position in the chair. Her spine stiffened slightly. “But there’s a difference between finding your brother the proper way, and going about it as a vigilante.” 

“If I were a vigilante, I’d have a code name,” Maddie quipped, a joke that fell flat with everyone in the room. Even Athena’s lips didn’t so much as twitch.

“Look,” she tried again, “I’m not going to apologize for doing what I had to do to try and track down my brother. His life is in danger, and there is a serial killer out there who probably won’t stop with him if we don’t stop them first. I got you more information than you had before. I mean, you don’t even have a proper lead on who Mason Owens’s partner is, do you?” Maddie shook her head. “Why is this such an issue? Why can’t you just use what I got you and _ find him_?”

“We’re trying to,” Cooper soothed. “Mrs. Han. Maddie. We’re trying to find your brother. The information you got us will help. But from here on out, you need to let us handle it.”

Jaw clenching, Maddie stood up. Her hands shook slightly; she balled them into fists.

“You want me to let you handle it?” she hissed. “Fine. Then actually handle it. I shouldn’t have to do the FBI’s job _ for _ them.” 

Without waiting for a reply, Maddie turned and stormed out of the conference room, letting the door slam behind her. She didn’t stop when Sue called her name, or Josh, left the building with her blood thrumming.

For a few minutes, Maddie just paced back and forth on the sidewalk in front of the call center. Her anger wore down with every step, which slowed the longer she paced. 

When she stopped, tears were streaming down her face. She fumbled to pull her phone out of her pocket, sent a text she knew wouldn’t be received.

** _I’m going to find you, Evan._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I appreciate all the support, so much. As always, please let me know what you think.


	19. speed goes in the red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, a lead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a new tattoo today! I also realized I have a crush on my very straight co-worker, so, you know. There's a balance to everything.
> 
> Just like there's a balance to this fic. This fic that means so much to me, and never would have been written if it wasn't for how damn inspiring I find 9-1-1.
> 
> I'm pretty sure people involved with the show are legally not allowed to read fic, but if anyone involved with the show ever reads **burn 'em up and scatter their remains**, I hope that you can see that this was written with so much fucking love and affection and _ respect_ for the show. I can't begin to express how _good_ and _special_ 9-1-1 is. I can't ever find the words to thank its creators, its writers, its actors enough for the gift that it is. 
> 
> I've never written anything this long before. I've never cared enough about something I was writing to stick to it like this before. So in a way, this show has made me capable of fulfilling a lifelong dream. And I have to thank the people involved in 9-1-1 for that, too.
> 
> And also, I should probably not write author's notes when I'm drunk, and have had like half a brownie. Oops? Love to everyone, I hope something amazing happens to you today or whenever you read this!

After Maddie stormed out of the conference room, an awkward silence settled over the people remaining in it. The longer it went on, the more things Athena thought to say, but every one of them, she discarded.

Maddie wasn’t exactly wrong, after all. Athena herself had wondered more than once what the hell Cooper and her team were doing, but she figured that it wasn’t her place to question it. They were the FBI, after all.

True, in Athena’s experience, the FBI tended to be incompetent, but she had assumed that profilers would be smarter. 

“Is she always like that?” Cooper finally broke the silence, eyebrows up as she turned her face towards Athena. Her disbelief was etched in the faint lines of her face. 

Athena nodded, breathing out slowly. 

“She’s a Buckley,” Was the only thing she could think of to say. It was the truth, after all. “They’re a passionate people.” 

Cooper opened her mouth like she wanted to say something else. Luckily, Athena’s phone chose that moment to start ringing.

If she’d had to listen to Cooper say anything about Maddie, she probably wouldn’t have handled it well in that particular moment. 

“Hello?” Athena didn’t bother to check the name on the caller idea before she answered, perhaps more brusquely than she meant to. 

“Athena, it’s Rick.” 

“Rick.” Athena felt her shoulders relaxing. “I’m glad to hear from you.” With a glance behind her at the group of agents that were now watching her curiously, she stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Of course, she stepped into a very busy pen full of 9-1-1 operators, but she lowered her voice, moving away from them as well. 

“What have you got for me?”

“Some good news, I think. I got a name.”

“A name?” Athena’s eyebrows raised and she glanced behind her, making sure that she hadn’t been overheard. She started walking, slowly, towards the building’s exit, so as not to cause suspicion. 

“The name of the person Mason Owens put into a coma at age fifteen.”

Athena paused with her hand on the door. 

“He put a man in a coma?”

“He put his foster father in a coma. Or at least, that was what he was convicted of. Conflicting evidence suggests that he might have had help.”

“Does that evidence say who?”

“Unfortunately, no.” 

Stepping outside, Athena checked both directions before turning right, towards where she had parked her car. 

“So how come his record got sealed?”

On the other end of the line, Rick hesitated. Athena could hear it in the pause, his doubts about whether or not he should tell her. Finally, he sighed. She could also practically picture him shaking his head. 

“He was fifteen. Sentenced to a year in juvie, but released after four months to a mental health facility.”

Athena stopped walking again, leaning against her cruiser. She rubbed a hand over her forehead, pinched the bridge of her nose. 

“He hasn’t been in one since he turned eighteen,” she told Rick. “Nothing turned up on his background check of that nature. I could tell he was a little slow, a little not right, but…” Breathing out heavily through her nose, Athena shook her head. “We should probably have him tested to see if he’s been self-medicating, though.”

“It might be a good idea,” Rick agreed. There was a sound like he was moving, papers rustling and keys clacking. 

“Can you get me the name of his foster parent, the hospital where he was admitted, and his current address?” 

“Name is Kevin Williams. He was admitted to St. Ambrose almost fifteen years ago, and he’s still there.”

“He’s still there?” Athena couldn’t keep the disbelief out of her voice. “You’re telling me fifteen years later, the man’s still in a coma?”

“No advance directive or next of kin to dictate what should be done with him.”

“Well, what about his foster kids? Or was Mason Owens the only one?”

“No,” Rick dragged the word out. “He wasn’t the only one. There were maybe half a dozen others before him.” 

“I want those names, Rick,” Athena said. “Can you email them to me?” She pushed off her car, pulled her keys out to unlock it. 

“Sure thing, ‘Thena.” 

“And what about his birth parents? Did you find anything out about them?”

“Uh, yeah.” More clacking of keys. “Mason was the second child put up for adoption by the birth mother. No father on the certificate. I have her name, but not the name of the first child, or any other information. I only know Mason was number two because of the adoption agency.”

“What do you mean?”

“They keep track of people who have repeatedly put their babies up for adoption, so that they can contact them again when they have couples looking.”

“That sounds shady as hell.” Athena got in the car, slamming the door shut behind her. 

“That’s because it is. Unfortunately, their lawyers have things iron tight when it comes to sealed adoption records. There’s no way we can know who the first baby was, or who adopted him.”

“What about the people who adopted Mason? How did he end up in foster care?”

“The adoption was never finalized. They backed out before it could be, and because the mother signed away her rights, he was put in the system.” 

Swearing softly, Athena leaned her head back against the seat. As much as she hated herself for it, she almost felt bad for the murderous bastard. Unwanted and abandoned at a young age, it couldn’t have been nice or easy.

Then she remembered how many people he had killed, and that he’d apparently put his foster father in a coma there was no end in sight to.

It was hard to feel bad for anyone like that.

After she thanked Rick for what he’d managed to do for her, Athena hung up and started her car. Before she could pull away from the curb, however, the passenger door to her cruiser was opening, and Maddie climbed in.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Athena turned to her to demand, trying not to notice the tear tracks on her cheeks. 

“Going with you.”

“You don’t know where I’m going.”

“Will it help us find Buck?”

“...It might,” Athena conceded. 

“Then I’m coming with you.”

“Fine,” Athena agreed, “then you’re going to work. Get out your phone and look up Kevin Williams. See if you can find anything about the accident that put him in a coma fifteen years ago.”

Doing as she was told, Maddie glanced at Athena as she pulled away from the curb. 

“So, where are we going?”

“To see a man in a coma.” 

She hit the gas.

***

“I didn’t even know the Cap watched that much t.v.” 

Eddie glanced over at Hen where she was sitting on a stool at the island in the middle of Chimney and Maddie’s kitchen. The two of them had removed themselves from the living room just a few minutes before, although they could still hear the muffled sounds of arguing through the walls. 

“I think Cap’s representing the book readers. You know, Stephen King fans. Chim’s backing the movie buffs.”

“And Karen?”

Hen shrugged. “Karen likes Castle Rock. She once described Andre Holland as the only man she’d ever consider holding hands with.”

Eddie considered this, nodded. 

“He’s an attractive man.”

Whistling, Hen leaned back a little and looked Eddie up and down. 

“What?” He chuckled, slid off his stool to go to the fridge and grab a beer. 

“Is that how it’s going to be, now? You’re just gonna talk about attractive men?”

“Oh, all the time.” He grabbed one for Hen too, popped both of them open with a butter knife. “That’s what I do, you know. Discuss the people I find attractive openly and loudly, as often as possible.”

Hen snorted, taking the beer from Eddie, pausing with it almost to her lips to say, “Right. That’s why it took you four years to get together with Buck when you’ve obviously been in love with him since day one.” 

“Not day one.” Eddie took his seat again, drank from his own bottle, enjoying the bitter aftertaste on his tongue once he’d swallowed. Chimney liked foreign imports; he always had the best beer. “I’m honestly not sure when I started falling for Buck.”

“Oh, I know.” Hen smiled, mostly to herself. She took a drink of her own beer before continuing. “It was when he told the Captain you were bringing Christopher to the station ahead of time. That’s how they get you, you know. They support your children.”

“‘They’?” Eddie raised an eyebrow, took another sip. “Who are ‘they’?”

“You know,” Hen said. “Our people. The ones we’re meant to be with. For me,” she used her bottle to point at herself, “It’s Karen. For you, it’s Buck.”

“I thought you and Karen were together before you adopted Denny.” 

“Oh, we were,” Hen nodded, “We were dating. Then Eva contacted me from prison, saying she was pregnant and she wanted me to raise the baby for her. I almost said no,” Hen admitted, voice going quiet, “but back then, I think a part of me still cared about Eva. When I told Karen about it, I thought she would leave me, but she didn’t. She was the one to suggest getting married so that we could have an easier time with adoption. And she fell...so in love with Denny. I loved her before that,” Another sip of her beer, “but seeing her with our son… That’s how I knew she was my soulmate.” 

Eddie listened to Hen’s words with a thoughtful expression. When she was done, he nodded slightly. 

“I don’t know if I believe in soulmates,” he admitted. “Just like I don’t know if I believe in fate. But I do know that the things I feel for Buck, how comfortable I am with him, how easy it is, feels a little…”

“Meant to be?”

“Yeah,” Eddie laughed. “Meant to be. You know, I was attracted to men before Buck--tried like hell to fight it, but I was--but until him, there was never one I saw myself making a life with. Actually being with.”

“That’s what I’m saying,” Hen said, laughing herself. “Buck was your one, you know. The one that changed your life.”

“He did,” Eddie agreed. He sobered slightly. “Hen, if we don’t find him--”

“Hey, no.” Hen reached out, wrapping a hand around Eddie’s wrist, squeezing it. “We will. Don’t go down that road right now, Eddie. This is a good time.”

As if on cue, Karen shouted, loud enough that they could hear her clearly, “Kiefer Sutherland was not the best Ace Merrill, Howard Han, you ** _take that back!_**”

“He was the best and the _ hottest_, Cap, back me up!” 

Hen and Eddie exchanged a look, burst out laughing. Hen was close to tears when the back door slid open and Denny ran inside. He stopped in his tracks at the sight of them.

“Mom, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Denny,” she reassured him, reaching out for her son. He came closer, letting Hen put her arm around him, lean in and press her face to his curls. “Mom’s feeling really positive.”

Denny put up with the hug as long as a pre-teen boy could before squirming away. He looked over at Eddie, putting on his best puppy dog eyes. 

“Mr. Diaz, can Christopher and I please go down to the corner store and get some ice cream?”

Eddie opened his mouth, closed it again, set his beer down. Hen could sympathize. Even now, with Christopher much more independent, the man still worried a little too much about his son. 

“Why are you asking him for permission and not me?” Hen asked, giving Eddie time to think by changing her son’s focus. Denny shrugged.

“Because I know you’ll say yes.”

“Wha--” Hen’s mouth dropped open as Eddie started laughing at her again. Rudely. So rudely. “What do you mean, you know I’ll say yes?”

“It’s not even two blocks, and you’re always telling Mama that I’m old enough to have more responsibility. So you’ll say yes.”

Well, damn. Denny had her there. Hen nodded slowly, still glaring at Eddie, who continued laughing. 

“Fine. If Eddie says yes, then I say yes.” 

“I say yes,” Eddie said, still chuckling, holding his hands up as if in surrender. “Here,” he continued, pulling out his wallet and handing Denny a ten. “No more than one each, you hear me?” 

He ducked his gaze to make sure that Denny met it, and Hen watched her son nod. She smiled slightly against the rim of her beer bottle. 

Denny pocketed the money, ran back into the yard, yelling out for Christoper.

“Chris! Hey, Chris, he said we can go.”

“Denny, close the--” Hen gave up when she heard Christopher cheer, turned her grin to Eddie. It was a little manic. “We’re good parents, right?”

“Oh, yeah,” Eddie said, offered his bottle up. Hen obliged with a clink. “Definitely.”

***

Athena’s pace was so fast that Maddie almost couldn’t keep up with her. She scampered down the polished hospital floors, feeling a little as though she was chasing after the woman. 

“So, um, why are we here?” She finally managed to match her pace with the police captain, feeling a little out of breath doing so. She needed to start boxing again, Maddie decided. 

“Because we’re going to find the doctor in charge of Kevin Williams,” Athena said, “And ask him a few questions.”

Maddie processed this, frowning thoughtfully. 

“Right,” she nodded, “Okay, awesome. Who is Kevin Williams in relation to finding Buck?" Her research hadn't come up with much. The articles about Kevin Williams's case never mentioned who attacked him, just said he was attacked.

“He’s the man Mason Owens put in a coma when he was fifteen,” Athena informed her, coming to a halt a few feet away from the nurse’s station. She turned to Maddie. 

“Listen,” she said, “I’m working a theory. Whoever Mason’s partner is, he’s probably his brother too. Possibly his birth mother. What I’m about to do, though, it’s not exactly…” 

Athena trailed off, but Maddie was all too happy to fill in.

“Legal.”

“Right,” Athena nodded. “But it will help you find your brother.”

“Alright.” Maddie sucked in a breath, nodded back. “Then let’s do this.” 

The corners of Athena’s mouth twitched. 

“I always liked you, Maddie.” Turning back towards the nurses’ station, Athena put on her best authoritative voice, flashing her badge. “Excuse me. Nurse? Captain Grant. I have a few questions for you.”

Once upon a time, Maddie had been a nurse. Once upon a time, Maddie had been a nurse questioned by a police officer about a patient. She recognized the look that crossed over the younger woman’s face. She froze behind the station counter.

“Y-yes, Captain?”

“There’s a patient on this floor,” Athena said, approaching her. Maddie, once again, trailed after her. “Kevin Williams. I want to speak to his doctor.” 

“Oh. Um.” The nurse twisted her fingers together, tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. “He doesn’t really have one?”

“What?” Athena asked, stopping, voice sharp enough to make the nurse flinch. Maddie put a hand on her arm.

“This is the long-term care ward,” she explained. “His doctors are whatever interns are there on rotation. Mostly, the nurses take care of him. Am I right?” Maddie smiled at the nurse, who gave a timid smile back,nodded.

“It’s mostly me lately, at least in the mornings.”

“I see.” 

Athena leaned one elbow on the counter. She smiled at the nurse. “And what’s your name?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote like half of this chapter drunk off my ass and all of it in four hours, in a bar. 
> 
> We're coming up on the end. Are you ready for it?


	20. believe in you more than i believe in myself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, progress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was dick to write. :( But I got it done, and exceeded my set word count for the day! WOO.

After Athena interrogated the nurse--there was really no other word for what Maddie had witnessed--she dropped Maddie back off at the call center. She still had a shift to finish, and Sue had called three times in the last forty-five minutes.

Maddie stared up at the building from the safety of Athena’s cruiser where it was parked on the street, stomach knotted.

“I don’t know if I’ll still have a job when I go in there,” she admitted, rubbing her palms over her knees, tapping her fingers against them. “Sue was mad _ before _ I ran out and disappeared for over an hour.”

“What for?”

As much as Maddie appreciated having Athena sound offended on her behalf, she still found herself shaking her head and defending her boss.

“Because I illegally tapped the center’s lines with an app created by a hacker?” Not that Sue knew that last part, or any of it, as far as Maddie was aware. She just knew that Maddie had done something that she shouldn’t have and the FBI had showed up.

“Surely she’ll be lenient, given what’s happening with your brother.”

“Sue’s been lenient. The question is, how much leniency can I ask for? Too much, and I start setting a bad example for other employees.”

Athena studied Maddie’s face, nodded slowly. 

“It’s good that you recognize that.”

“Recognizing it doesn’t make this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach over the idea of losing my job any easier to deal with.”

“I don’t think you’re going to lose your job, Maddie, but if you do… For what it’s worth, you’d make a hell of a cop.”

Maddie laughed, rolling her eyes, head tipping back. Just that moment was enough to give her some relief from the tension she was feeling. 

“I think I’d probably just go back to nursing. As long as it wasn’t at a hospital in your district.”

“You think I was too hard on her?”

“I think…” Maddie shrugged. “I think she was young and probably hadn’t ever had to deal with something like that before. You weren’t hard on her, you were just...intense.”

“I was too hard on her.” Athena pressed her lips together. “Why didn’t you stop me?”

Now Maddie had to thin her lips, not wanting to admit the truth. She had to, though, if only to make Athena feel better about the situation.

“At this point,” she said, “There’s not much that I wouldn’t do to get my brother back. Besides...you got what you needed.”

“I did,” Athena agreed. “Now I’m going to go have a conversation with Mason Owens, and get the rest of what we need. We’re getting your brother back, Maddie.”

Maddie let out a shaky breath, her head bobbing.

“You know, I’m starting to believe you when you say that.”

“You should have been believing me all along.”

Smiling, Maddie opened the car door, put one foot on the ground. 

“You’re probably right.”

Hopefully she was right about Maddie not getting fired, too.

“Where have you been?”

Ten minutes later, Maddie had managed to avoid Sue and slink back to her station. Trying to act like nothing happened was never going to work with Josh around, though. As soon as Maddie was sitting down, he pushed across the floor, rolling up next to her without ever getting out of his chair.

“You’re lucky Sue’s on her lunch break, or you would be getting yelled at right now.”

Maddie winced, looking over at him. 

“Fired?”

“I don’t know. Sue was pretty pissed off, but she also totally understands what you’re going through.” 

“Does everyone else, though? Or do they all just think I’m getting special treatment?”

“Oh, honey.” Josh made a face that was almost a pout. “You’re besties with a police captain and your brother is a firefighter who works under that captain’s husband. We all know you get special treatment.” 

“...But you still love me, though, right?”

Josh pretended to think for a moment. 

“Love is a strong word,” he began, laughed when Maddie pushed his shoulder. “Maddie, I would not be as nice to you as I am if I did not love you.”

“Oh, are you nice?” Maddie gestured between them. “Is this you being nice?” 

“Shut up.” Josh rolled his eyes, chuckling. Maddie laughed too. 

Before their conversation could continue, a call came in to Maddie’s line. Turning away from Josh, she slipped her headset on, answered with the press of a button.

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”

“Hello again, Maddie Han.”

A shiver of revulsion ran down her spine. From that alone, Josh seemed to realize what was happening. His eyes widened, and he mouthed, ‘Is that him?’

Nodding, Maddie pulled out her phone. Even though she’d just been with the other woman, she sent Athena a text.

“I’m just calling to remind you that you have eight hours before I kill your brother. Unless, of course, you release my partner.”

“Release your brother, you mean. Because that’s who he is, right?”

Taunting the serial killer probably wasn’t the smartest thing Maddie had ever done, but it also couldn’t be called her worst idea. The shocked silence on the other end of the line was probably too satisfying.

“That’s right, asshole,” Maddie continued. “You thought you could outsmart--”

Josh’s hand appeared out of nowhere, ending the call. Maddie turned to glare at him.

“Why did you do that?”

“Because he still has your brother, Maddie.” Reaching up, Josh used his palm to tap Maddie’s forehead. “If you piss him off, odds are good you won’t be getting Buck back.”

“He’s not going to do anything to Buck if he thinks he can use him to get his brother back,” Maddie argued, sounding much more sure than she felt. Because Josh had a very good point. 

Maddie hated it when he did that.

***

Buck woke up, so at some point, he must have fallen asleep. He wasn’t sure how he’d managed to do that when his whole body ached. There was no blood flow to his arms, and he was starting to lose feeling in them. What sensation he did have was all painful tingles from having them tied over his head for so long. 

He groaned, raising his chin, blinking at the room around him. The view hadn’t changed. Grey walls, grey floor, nothing he could use as leverage to escape. 

As much as he hated to admit it, Buck was starting to lose hope. He had no idea how long he’d been out any of the times he’d lost consciousness, had no clue how long he’d been there in that room. What he did know was that the longer he was there, the more likely it was that he wouldn’t be found. 

At least, not until after he was dead, when whoever it was that had him wanted him to be found. How would they do it, Buck wondered. Would he be left at a fire, which would only be appropriate? Or would he be like Terry, crammed into a gas station bathroom? Like Perks, propped against Eddie’s car, or Maddie’s? 

“Hope they play good music at my funeral,” Buck muttered to himself, chuckled with a tinge of hysteria. “No classical, Maddie. Rock only.” 

Not that Maddie could hear him. Not that anybody could hear him. Buck was stuck there, by himself, left to rot.

Maybe the killer wouldn’t even bother to murder him. Maybe they’d just leave Buck there to die slowly of dehydration and starvation and lack of blood flow, leave him to decompose still hanging from that hook.

Maybe he’d never be found.

His lips were parched. Buck licked them, shaking his head as best he could. It made him dizzy. No. He couldn’t think like that. He couldn’t let himself think like that. He wasn’t going to let himself be one more person that Eddie lost. 

Whoever had taken him would come for him, and when he did, Buck would be ready. Ready to fight. 

He wasn’t going down without a fight. He couldn’t.

With fingers feeling so thick they might as well have been sausages, Buck raised his hands up to grab onto the hook that he hung from. He tugged, knowing it was futile, then tugged again. Ran his fingers along the edge of the hook and cursed as he felt the skin slice open slightly. Luckily, he had no blood flow in his hands at the moment. 

It did give him an idea, though.

With a little twisting and a whole lot of blind feeling, Buck managed to get the edge of whatever it was that was tying his wrists together to start rubbing against the sharp inner edge of the hook. 

It was slow, and painful. When he twisted too hard he would let out a grunt, and if he hadn’t been dehydrated, he probably would have been dripping sweat. Buck had no idea how long he rocked himself back and forth, swinging his legs for leverage. 

After a little while, he felt the material start to give. So did the ceiling, debris falling, hitting his head, shoulder, the floor. His feet brushed a little more on the floor. Then a little more. The more he cut through, the lower he hung. When his heels hit the floor, Buck gave one last good tug.

His binding snapped. Despite wanting it to happen, Buck wasn’t prepared for it, and he collapsed onto the ground, knees hitting cement hard.

Wincing, Buck used his palms to push himself up. Slowly, until he was sitting, breathing labored, exhausted.

He’d done it. He’d broken his bonds. His wrists were free._ He _ was free.

Or at least more free than he had been. Buck held his arms up, inspecting the damage. The skin around his wrists was so red, so blistered, that he knew they would hurt like hell once he regained feeling in his arms. As it was, his arms were starting to throb painfully as blood rushed to them. Moving slowly, Buck began massaging them. Occasionally he’d press down too hard, wince and hiss. 

Buck just needed to find a way out of there. After allowing himself a few more minutes to recover, he staggered to his feet, looking around for the door. 

It was behind him, a double door that appeared to be made of metal. Slowly, dragging a little, Buck moved towards it.

He pounded one fist against it, checking the density. Hollow. That meant that if he could rig the right tool, he’d be able to break through it. 

What he wouldn’t give for a fire truck and all the supplies in it. Instead, Buck found himself staring at an empty room. 

Glancing up, he studied the hook he’d been hanging from. His manipulation seemed to have pulled it out of the ceiling a little; if he squinted, the bolts holding it in looked loose. A small jump and his fingers brushed against it. A higher jump, and Buck could grab it.

He immediately let go, grabbing his palm and holding it against his chest. Right. It was sharp.

But it was also the only option Buck had. Gritting his teeth, he jumped up again, managing that time to grab just above the hook. He reached his other hand up, too, and pulled, hard.

A piece of cement exploded at his feet. 

Buck dropped down, breathing heavily. After a second of rest, he did it again. For several minutes, he repeated the action, causing more debris to fall. A bolt came loose, dropping to the floor with other pieces of ceiling. 

One more tug, and the whole thing came down. Buck dropped to his knees as quickly as he could, covering his head and the back of his neck to keep safe. 

When the dust had settled, he coughed a little, looking at the hook and chain on the ground next to him. Then Buck looked up, eyes widening.

Above him, the hole in the ceiling showed sky.

***

Mason didn’t budge when the door to his cell opened. His bail had been denied, and his brother hadn’t shown up. 

Mason had thought he would show up. He always showed up.

Like an immovable boulder, the behemoth of a man sat staring down at his meaty hands, brow furrowed in what would appear to an outsider as difficult contemplation.

Why hadn’t his brother shown up?

“Mason.”

Head jerking up at round, eyes widening with hope, Mason opened his mouth...slammed it shut again when he saw that the person who had said it was that bitch cop. 

“What do you want?”

“Just to ask you some questions.” 

Her voice was softer than before. The way a woman’s voice was supposed to be. Eyes narrowing, Mason peered up at her as she approached. 

“No.”

“It has nothing to do with the people you’ve been killing, Mason. Nothing at all.”

Head tilting slightly, Mason watched Athena move even closer. If there hadn’t been half a dozen other cops standing outside of his cell with their hands too close to their guns for comfort, Mason might have lunged at her. As it was, he turned away, presenting her with his back. 

That didn’t stop her. Mason could feel her standing next to him, clenched his fists. 

“What I want to talk to you about, Mason, is a man named Kevin Williams.”

As though ice had been dumped down the back of his shirt, Mason got chills hearing that name. His whole body tensed, shivered.

“I’m not supposed to talk about him,” Mason muttered. His brother had said so. 

“I understand. I just have some questions.” The bitch wasn’t going away. Mason really wanted to hit her.

“No.”

“Why did you attack him, Mason? And who is it that goes and visits him in the hospital once a week? I know it isn’t you, because I showed his nurse his picture.”

“I didn’t.”

There was silence, long enough that even though he could sense she was still there, Mason looked over his shoulder to see what Athena was doing. Her face, though, was impossibly blank.

“Then who did, Mason?”

“...Nobody.”

“Now, Mason. That man’s been in a coma for fifteen years. Somebody hurt him.”

Mason hesitated, then nodded with great reluctance. 

“So then, who was it?”

“...My brother.” 

The words were mumbled, barely audible. Mason hoped she wouldn’t hear him. Unfortunately for him, she did. 

He jumped slightly when she put a hand on his shoulder, despite seeing her hand move. 

“Your brother? Where is your brother, Mason?”

“Probably at work. He’s a hero, you know.”

Athena drew back slightly, one eyebrow twitching up. 

“Is he now?”

Nodding once, Mason turned away again. 

“He wants me to be a hero, too.”

“And you want to be a hero, don’t you, Mason?”

“I will be, once the queers are gone.”

If he’d been looking, he would have seen Athena’s jaw tense. He did hear the slow breath she sucked in.

“And hurting Kevin Williams… Is that what made him a hero?”

“Heroes rescue people. He rescued me. He’s my brother, my blood. Kevin was just--” Mason cut himself off.

He wasn’t supposed to talk about that.

“Kevin was just what?” Athena asked. “Hm?”

“He was just taking care of me. But my brother found me, and he’d been looking so long. Kevin wouldn’t let me go with him.” 

“So your brother made sure that you could?”

“He made sure Kevin wasn’t in the way.”

“Which is why you’re so loyal to him. Because he came and found you, and he made sure you two could be together.”

Mason nodded again, slow and heavy. 

“He’s probably mad at me.”

The captain dropped her hand. The sudden loss of warmth had Mason shivering slightly. He looked up at her, eyes burning with tears. 

“I wasn’t supposed to get caught.”

“There, there.” Despite her soothing words, the way she crossed her arms over her chest told him that she didn’t feel sorry for him at all.

Bitch, he thought again.

“Mason, if you give me your brother’s name, I’ll make sure that he knows where you are and that he isn’t mad at you. Don’t you think he’ll want to know that?”

That...made sense. There was something about it that sounded wrong, but Mason knew she was right. If her brother didn’t hear from him he would worry. He always told Mason to check in regularly. 

Once more, Mason found himself nodding. 

“I don’t want him to get in trouble,” he told her, worry etched into his face.

“Oh, Mason, what would he get in trouble for? Kevin was a long time ago, and you’re the one who killed all those people.”

“...Right,” Mason mumbled, mostly to himself. So, then, what was the harm in telling her, so that she could tell his brother.

In fact, Mason realized, his brother probably didn’t know where he was. That was why he hadn’t been at his hearing. And once he knew, well...

His brother would rescue him. 

“You promise?” He checked one last time. Athena smiled down at him, put her hand on his shoulder again.

“I promise.”

Mason took a deep breath, licked his lips.

“His name is Tristan Jacobs.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Four more chapters and the epilogue. Y'all ready for this?


	21. stand with our brothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Athena gets stalled. The kids know more than they maybe should.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I missed yesterday's update. Occasionally, I have a social life.

The door to Elaine’s office slammed open, and the older woman jumped slightly, dropping the pen in her hand.

There was no surprise in her when she looked up to see Athena standing there like some righteous Valkyrie, the only thing missing a flaming sword in her hand.

“Tristan Jacobs.” Athena strode towards her desk, movements tight with barely leashed fury. “Tristan _ damn _ Jacobs.”

“Rachel Bennett’s partner?”

“Mason Owens’s brother.”

Elaine’s mouth dropped open.

“We interviewed him. Twice, we interviewed him twice. How is that possible? There were no signs that he was anything other than a grieving friend.”

“The man’s gotta be some sort of sociopath. He put Mason’s foster father in a coma fifteen years ago because Kevin Williams wouldn’t just give him custody, and then got Mason sent to juvie for it. And Mason’s still loyal as hell.”

“He called in Rachel’s disappearance!”

“Mmhm,” Athena leaned back on her heels, hands on her hips. “He knew exactly what part to play to keep us from getting suspicious, and we fell into it like rookies.”

Elaine was already reaching for her phone as Athena’s rant ended. She dialed quickly, glancing at the other captain as she did. 

“This is fixable. I can call Jacobs’s supervisor, find out his location and his address. We can pick him up without him even knowing we’re suspicious.”

“Then do that,” Athena said, “because he’s got Buck, and I want him back.” 

Considering this, Elaine hung the phone back up. Athena looked pointedly at her hand, then at her face, raising an unimpressed eyebrow.

“Hear me out,” Elaine began. “If we arrest Jacobs now, he might not tell us where Buck is. In fact, Coop says that in situations like these, it’s best to find the potential victims first rather than risk not finding them at all.”

“Oh, it’s Coop now, is it?”

“Athena.” Elaine smiled slightly. “Don’t deflect.”

“Fine.” Athena pulled a chair up to Elaine’s desk, sat down. She crossed her legs, resting her elbows on her thighs and folding her hands. “So, if we don’t arrest Jacobs now, then when do we? How do we use him to find Buck?”

“You know how we do it, Athena. You’re just letting your emotions cloud your thinking.” It was probably her biggest fault. When Athena was personally involved in a case, she tended to be a little...irrational. Not that Elaine would ever say it to her face. She had some sense of self-preservation.

After a moment of glaring, Athena gave a curt nod. 

“We set up a tail, follow him once he’s off his shift and hope that he leads us to Buck.” 

More hurry up and wait. Athena hated waiting. She wanted to be out there, tracking down Buck and making sure that he was alright.

The boy was accident prone on a good day. Who knew what kind of trouble he was getting himself into, unsupervised and trapped by a serial killer?

At least he wasn’t on blood thinners anymore. That was one thing she didn’t have to worry about.

“Exactly,” Elaine said, calling Athena’s attention back to her. “We’ll set up a tail, and we’ll follow him to Buck.”

“Fine,” Athena agreed, “But I want to be the tail.”

“Absolutely not. You’re too recognizable. He knows you, and he knows you know Buck. Besides, I don’t want you alone with this guy.” 

“And why not?”

“Because I don’t want to have to arrest a corpse,” Elaine replied coolly. “Can you honestly tell me that, given the opportunity, you wouldn’t kill Jacobs?”

“I’d just give him the punishment he deserves.”

“That’s not up to us and you know it, Athena.” 

Oh, Athena knew it. Normally, she even agreed with it. Vigilante justice never worked the way people thought it did. It was a lesson she’d had to learn the hard way herself.

That didn’t mean she still wouldn’t wring Jacobs’s neck if she could.

“So who are you going to set on him?”

“Someone from Cooper’s team, most likely. Ah, don’t give me that look.” Elaine was referring, of course, to the flicker of fury on Athena’s face. “They’re better equipped to handle this and you know it.”

“They’re morons. They’re supposed to be profilers, they interviewed Jacobs twice, and somehow, they still had no idea that he was the killer.”

“They would have figured it out eventually.”

“And eventually would have been too late for Buck.”

“Not necessarily…”

“Damn it, Elaine,” Athena stood up again, slamming her palms on the older woman’s desk. “Stop treating me like just another concerned citizen. This is me, and someone I care about.”

“Athena,” Elaine sighed, “I’m sorry, but right now, that’s pretty much all you are.” 

“I’m the reason you even know it’s Jacobs.”

“And we can take it from here.”

It looked liked Athena was going to argue some more. Then, without a word, she turned and left Elaine’s office. The door slammed behind her. 

That was fine. If Elaine didn’t know what Athena was about to do, she didn’t have to report it.

Athena’s phone was out and she was dialing before the door had even finished closing behind her. She held it up to her ear as it rang, moving quickly down the hall.

“Hello, dear.”

_ “Bobby.” _ Just the sound of her husband’s voice had tension easing from her shoulders. 

“Is everything alright?”

“I have the name of the man who has Buck.”

There was a pause. Athena could picture Bobby’s expression clearly, the way his eyes would have widened slightly, the slight parting of his lips. Eddie must have been around, because the next time he spoke, his voice was hushed. 

“Did you find Buck?”

“No,” Athena shook her head, even though Bobby couldn’t see her. “Not yet. And Elaine says I can’t go looking for him.”

“That’s probably good advice.”

“I know,” A hint of irritation crept into her voice. “I know that, but we’re so close, now, Bobby, and I just keep thinking about how scared Buck must be. And how _ good _ he is at getting hurt.”

“Buck is good at getting hurt. He’s also good at surviving. You know you can trust Elaine.” 

Athena stopped walking, leaned against a wall, letting her head fall back on it. 

“I know. I know, but Bobby, I hate this.”

“I hate it too,” Bobby’s voice was calm, soothing in her ear. Athena closed her eyes. 

“It feels like I haven’t seen you in days.”

Bobby hummed. 

“You’ve been busy doing what you do best. I’ll see you at home when this is all over.”

“With the kids?”

“Michael’s bringing Harry over to Chimney’s, and May said she’ll be down again too. I personally think she’s enjoying having a family emergency to miss classes for a little too much.” 

Athena laughed. Knowing she would be seeing her husband and children soon was a balm to her soul. It would get her through the next few hours.

“I’m not going to be mad at her for that right now,” she said. 

“Fair enough. I’ll see you soon.”

“Mm, alright. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Athena hung up, staring at her contact picture for Bobby for a few more seconds before slipping her phone back into her pocket.

Just because she couldn’t follow Jacobs didn’t mean she couldn’t do some digging of her own. 

***

Bobby returned to the kitchen where Hen, Chimney, and Eddie were gathered, pocketing his phone as he did. Their expectant looks had him sighing, shaking his head.

“She was just checking in,” he said. He glanced around, noticing a few missing people. 

“Where did Karen and the kids go?”

“She took them into the living room,” Hen explained, “In case there was news.”

Nodding slightly, Bobby reclaimed the stool he’d been occupying at the center kitchen island, picked up his water under Hen’s watchful eyes. 

“Well, there wasn’t. Athena just wanted to vent a little. She’s frustrated.”

“We all are.” Chimney had broken in the leftover leftovers and had a mouthful of lasagna. Bobby wasn’t actually sure where it had come from. “We’re ready for this nightmare to be over.” 

“If it were a nightmare, I could wake up and Buck would be with me,” Eddie muttered, taking a sip of his beer. “If this were a nightmare, it wouldn’t be _ real._”

Hen reached out, putting her hand on Eddie’s arm and squeezing it lightly.

“You’ll have Buck with you soon enough. ‘Thena’s on it, and she’s got Maddie helping her.”

“That’s right,” Chimney agreed, “And Bobby and I are married to superwomen, so he’ll be fine.” 

“Excuse you, what am I? For that matter, what is_ my _ wife?”

“Obviously you’re both equally super in your own ways, Hen, but Athena and Maddie are the ones out there tracking Buck down right now.” 

“It’s not like I don’t want to me,” Hen pointed out. “There’s just not much that we can do.”

“We’ve already done enough,” Bobby interjected, trying to defuse the rising tension. “We caught Mason Owens, and that stopped the murders. We have to trust that Maddie and Athena can get his partner.”

“Still now word on who it is?”

All four occupants of the kitchen turned to look at Karen, padding into the kitchen with an empty mug. She went over to the stove, switched on the burner under the kettle.

“Still no word on anything.” Hen gave her wife a smile.

Karen pulled a tin of tea out of Chimney’s cupboard, dug out the strainer spoon she herself had bought Maddie for Christmas a couple of years before from a drawer.

“Hey, what’s Christopher up to?” Eddie moved to hop down from his stool, had to pause and grab the counter. 

“Christopher and Denny are playing scrabble with their vocabulary words.” Filling the spoon, Karen set it in her mug, turned around to lean against the counter while her water boiled. “If you want, Eddie, Hen and I can take him tonight.”

“No, no,” Eddie shook his head. “We’ll be fine.” 

“If Buck’s back, you might want us to take him,” Hen pointed out, her tone teasing in an attempt to lighten the mood. “Have a nice reunion.”

“Buck would want Christopher there.”

Christopher might not have had any idea what was going on, but even with Eddie trying to keep him in the dark, he knew something was wrong, just like he knew that it had to do with Buck. Christopher would want to be there too.

Hen understood that. If it had been Karen missing, she’d never even think about sending Denny away for even a night once she was found. Karen got it too, from her slight nod and smile. 

“Maybe another night soon, then.” The tea kettle began to whistle. She turned around to switch the burner off, poured steaming water into her cup. Eddie caught her wrist before she left the kitchen. 

“Thank you, Karen.” He smiled, forcing the expression, eyes damp. “For everything. Really.” 

“We’re family.” Careful not to spill her tea, Karen pulled Eddie in for a one-armed hug. “I know you’d do the same for Hen.” 

“I’d do the same for either of you.”

“So, then, no thanks necessary.” 

The moment was interrupted by a knock on the front door. Bobby stood up before anyone else could. 

“That’s probably Michael and Harry,” he explained. “I’ll get it.”

“Harry’s here?” 

Somehow, Denny had heard that from the living room, and he came racing into the kitchen, nearly bowling into Bobby as he tried to leave it. 

“Boy, your selective eavesdropping is going to get you into trouble one day,” Hen said, shaking her head at her son. “Yes, Harry is here. You cannot play with him until you finish your homework.” 

“Moooom,” Bobby heard Denny whine as he moved through the house, passing Christopher. His head was bent over a piece of yellow paper with what looked like a list of words on it, and he kept glancing at the wooden letters he had to choose from.

Smiling slightly, Bobby gave him once last glance before answering the door. 

“Hey,” he greeted, stepping aside to let Michael and Harry in. “Come join the party.”

*** 

Denny waited until his dad and Bobby had gone back into the kitchen to say what was on his mind. Harry took a seat across from Christopher, stretching his legs out so that they slipped under the coffee table where the scrabble game was set up, rubbed his palms against his knees. Denny glanced at him from under his curls, once, twice, then looked towards the kitchen, nodding slightly. The adults were otherwise occupied, and his Mama still hadn’t come back yet. For the moment, anyway, they were in clear.

“So, you know what’s going on?”

Harry nodded slowly. He wasn’t supposed to know what was going, which meant he definitely wasn’t supposed to tell Christopher, but that was just because adults didn’t think they could handle the bad stuff.

That was stupid, in Harry’s opinion. How were they supposed to handle the bad stuff when they grew up if they weren’t taught how to handle it as kids?

So Harry nodded, leaned in a little. Christopher and Denny leaned in too, so that they could hear him when he spoke, voice hushed.

“Somebody kidnapped Buck. Dad says it’s the same person whose been killing all those people.”

Denny’s eyes widened, but it was Christopher who spoke.

“Someone’s killing people?” 

Luckily, he didn’t say it loud enough to get the adults’ attention from the other room. Denny slapped a palm over Christopher’s mouth anyway, shaking his head so vigorously that his curls bounced. 

“Shh,” he hissed. “We’re not supposed to be talkin’ ‘bout this, Chris.”

Christopher nodded, so Denny lowered his hand. 

“Buck’s gonna be okay, though, right?”

“Of course he is,” Harry assured his friend. “My mom is looking for him. She’ll find him and he’ll be fine.”

Christopher relaxed, nodding slightly. He, like all the children of the 118, had learned a long time ago to put his faith in the police captain. Athena never let anything bad happen if she could help it. 

“Maddie’s helping too,” Denny said. “I think, anyway. She’s not here, but she’s called Mr. Diaz a couple of times.”

“Why didn’t my dad tell me?” Christopher asked, looking down, voice soft. Denny leaned over, wrapping an arm around his thin shoulders. 

“He probably didn’t want to make you worry.”

“I was already worried.” 

“He’s gonna be okay, Chris,” Denny promised again, rubbing Christopher’s arm. Christopher leaned into him, resting his head on Denny’s shoulder. “He saved you, remember? He can save anybody. Even himself.” 

That seemed to brighten Christopher up a little. He lifted his head again, nodding slightly, a hint of a smile on his face.

“That’s right,” he agreed, “Buck can save anybody. He’ll be okay.” 

Denny moved his hand, but kept it on the couch behind them in case Christopher needed to be comforted again. 

“At least now you know why your dad’s so upset,” Harry said. “I figured you were probably worried. My dad said he wasn’t taking it great.”

“He cried last night,” Christopher agreed. “I was supposed to be asleep, but I heard it.” 

What was it, Harry wondered, with their parents thinking that bedtime meant oblivious children? He supposed he should be grateful, because if they ever caught on, Harry would lose his best source of information. 

“Your dad really loves Buck,” was the only reply Harry could think of. Christopher nodded again. 

“Buck is my dad’s special friend. And he’s like my other dad. I don’t want to lose him either.”

Denny and Harry exchanged a look. Although Denny was too young to really remember her, he knew that Christopher had already lost his mother. Losing his second dad didn’t seem fair.

“You won’t. Hey, maybe when this is over and Buck is safe, he and your dad will get married like my mom and Bobby did, and then Buck will _ really _ be your other dad.”

The thought made Christopher beam.

“You think so?”

“Sure.” Harry didn’t see why not. Even May said that Buck and Eddie were probably going to get married, and she’d been saying it for _ years_. Just, never around their parents. Harry had discovered a long time ago that girls had a better sense for romance than he, at least, did, so he’d always assumed she was right. 

Christopher thought about this, smile getting bigger, and then he nodded. 

“I hope your mom rescues him soon.”

Harry smiled back, reached across the table, and ruffled Christopher’s curls. 

“She will, buddy.”

His mom was Captain Athena Grant, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone for your continued support, and your patience with my updates. I'm really hoping to have this finished by Thanksgiving. 
> 
> SO CLOSE.


	22. having the day from hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really not happy with this chapter, but I've had a stressful couple of days, and I needed to get something written. Everything happened that was supposed to but...meh.

“Have you heard from Captain Grant?”

Elaine looked up from checking her holster. Cooper was watching her, something unreadable the other woman’s dark eyes. 

“No,” Elaine replied with honesty. There was no reason not to. “I haven’t heard from her since she told me about Jacobs.” Some people would say that no news was good news, but Elaine knew better. That was hardly ever the truth in Athena’s case--not that the news was ever  _ good. _

“Do you think we’re going to find her with him, when we arrest him?”

Elaine didn’t have an answer to that, or at least, not one that would satisfy Cooper. Cooper wanted to hear no, and no would have been the most surprising thing. 

“I think we should have a unit waiting at Jacobs’s apartment in case she decides to wait for him there.” As much as Elaine would have loved to be able to hand her friend a moment of justice, she was still sworn to uphold the law. She also didn’t want to have to arrest Athena, so really, this was for her own sake. 

“I don’t understand why you’re so comfortable having a loose cannon on your force, Lainey.” The old nickname had Elaine looking up sharply, then narrowing her eyes slightly. Cooper only used it when she wanted something. She studied her ex from where she waited by the door to leave. 

Jacobs would be getting off his shift, soon.

“Athena might be a bit reckless when it comes to the people she loves, but she’s a damn good police officer, and she’s done wonders for the Los Angeles Police Department, Coop.”

“She circumvents the law when it suits her.”

“And in the end she cleans up her own messes. Something not all of my officers do.” She put her hands on her hips. “Look, whatever this is about will have to wait. We have twenty minutes to get down to the hospital before Jacobs’s shift is over. We can’t tail him if we’re not there when he leaves.” 

Without waiting for an answer, Elaine opened her office door and left the room and Cooper, standing by her desk. Cooper stood there for a few more seconds, mouth pressed thin, before following after her.

They reached the hospital with about five minutes to spare before what was supposed to be the end of Tristan Jacobs’s shift. His final shift as an EMT, if Elaine had her way. She found his car in the parking lot, then pulled into a space a row away and a few spaces down. 

Cooper got out of the car without saying a word, shut the door behind her and started walking towards the emergency entrance to the hospital. 

“What the hell is she doing?” Elaine muttered to herself, slouching low in her seat. She grabbed the purse she kept exactly for undercover work like that, pretending to dig through it for something as she waited for her target to come out. At the same time as she was looking for Jacobs, she watched Cooper lean against one of the pillars between the car and the ER, pull out a silver case and light a cigarette. At least 500 feet away, Elaine realized, but close enough.

When Jacobs exited the building not even two minutes later, he didn’t even glance at the stranger smoking in the parking lot. 

Elaine slowly set her purse down, moving to curl her fingers around the door handle. Cooper dropped the cigarette once Jacobs was past her, ground it out with the toe of her shoe and pulled out her gun.

“FBI,” Elaine heard her yell, “Don’t move.”

Everything paused. Jacobs froze, just a few feet from his car. Elaine could see the puffs of air that left his mouth, coming quickly. Her own breath was caught in her throat as she tried to comprehend what had just happened.

She watched Jacobs’s hands slowly start to raise, saw Cooper lick her lips, tense up slightly, as he began to turn around.

“Something wrong, Agent?”

“I said don’t move,” Cooper shot back. “Do it again and I’ll shoot.”

That was enough of watching. Elaine opened the car door, climbed out. Hurrying over to where Jacobs stood, she pulled her cuffs out, reached for a wrist. 

She managed to cuff him with no resistance. It was a little surprising. Still in shock, Elaine started steering Jacobs back towards her vehicle, Cooper walking next to them.

“Tristan Jacobs, you’re under arrest for the murders of Terrence Garson, William Perks, Justine Benson, Rachel Bennett, and Kevin Martin, as well as the kidnapping of Evan Buckley. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say…”

Elaine tuned the familiar words out, or maybe her ears were just ringing too loudly for her to really hear them. 

“...With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak with me?”

She came back to reality as Cooper finished giving Jacobs his Miranda Rights, blinking. They were stopped in front of her car. With a shake of her head, Elaine opened it up. 

“I thought we agreed on a tail. Buck is still out there,” she hissed into Cooper’s ear, sliding past her as Cooper took it upon herself to shove Jacobs in the back seat. 

“A tail risks losing him. Now we have him in custody. We can interrogate your friend, find out that way.”   
“You yourself said that’s a risky tactic.”

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take. Let’s go.” Cooper slammed the back door shut, went around the rear Elaine’s car. 

As Elaine slipped into the driver’s seat, she wondered how the hell she was going to explain everything to Athena. 

***

Athena only drove past Jacobs’s block once, unsurprised to see squad cars parked down the street. If she’d been in Elaine’s position, she would have done the exact same thing knowing someone as pissed as Athena was out there. As much of Athena’s anger was directed towards her friend, she still respected the woman.

The apartment wasn’t Athena’s destination anyway, however. She knew that Jacobs wouldn’t risk keeping his victims somewhere with thin walls and nosy neighbors. If the man was able to fool the FBI twice, he was smart.

No, Athena’s destination, once she was sure Elaine was off her tracks, was City Hall. She parked where she knew there was no camera, entered through a side entrance meant for employees only. 

It took her a few minutes to find where she needed to be. The man at the desk did a double take when she approached him, whether at the furious look on her face or at seeing another person, it was hard to tell.

“Um, hello, officer…”

“It’s Captain,” Athena corrected, pulling herself up a little taller. “I need to see archived property records for Kevin Williams.”

“I’m not so sure I can just…” He stopped when Athena leaned in, elbows on the counter, narrowing her eyes at him. Swallowed. “Shouldn’t you have a warrant, or something?”

“One’s on its way,” she said. “But this is time sensitive. I need to see those records now.” 

“Time sensitive?”

“A man’s life is at stake.”   


The man behind the counter--his name tag read Jerry--looked up, fast, eyes wide. He swallowed again, glanced around. Leaned forward just a little and lowered his voice.

“Is this about that serial killer?”

Annoyance flickered through Athena, but she shoved it down. She could work with his interest. Leaning in even more, she nodded.

“It is. You help me with this, help me save him, and you’ll be a hero.” 

There was that damn word again, making the man’s eyes light up. Athena wished someone would tell these people that being a so-called hero had some seriously painful consequences.

“Well, as long as the warrant is on the way... Let me go see what I can find for you.” 

While Jerry looked for her, disappearing between narrow stacks of cardboard boxes full of files, Athena looked around the small room she found herself in. The basement of City Hall, tucked back where no one went. It was only a room as defined by the stacks of files that made four walls. She wondered how someone ended up with a job down there. Who Jerry had to piss off. 

How Jerry stayed sane.

Almost five minutes later, Jerry returned. 

“Here you go,” he said, plopping down stack of folder in front of Athena. “Property ownership records for Kevin Williams, part one.”

“Part one?”

“Oh, yeah. Do you know how many Kevin Williamses have lived in the greater Los Angeles areas? Now, if you had something to narrow it down…”   
Athena’s jaw clenched. She picked up the stack of folders, opened the few few at the top and scanning details. 

“Just..” She shut the top one again, “show me where the files are.” 

Following Jerry back the way he’d come, Athena was led to a dimly lit corner of the basement archives. Floor to ceiling was the last name Williams, each direction Athena looked. 

Jerry pat his hand on the metal ledge of one of the shelves. “The Kevins start here. They run to about…” He walked two rows down, “Here. Now, if you have more information, like, say, the time period you’re looking for, these files are also sorted chronologically within their alphabetical parameters.” 

Athena set down the files she was holding, right next to Jerry’s hand. He moved it quickly.

“I think I got it from here.” 

She’d only been digging through the files for a few minutes--having narrowed down her search to between Kevin’s birth year and the year he was put into a coma--when her phone started ringing.

Athena was a little surprised she got reception at all, seeing as how there was only one bar. Even more surprising was the name on her screen.

“Elaine.”

“Athena. I’m just calling to let you know that we caught Jacobs.”

“What?” 

“We caught Jacobs. Arrested him an hour ago.”   


“So you found Buck.” Athena started to restack the folders with her other hand. “How is he? Is he alright? Did you take him to the hospital?”

“Athena…”

She knew just from Elaine’s tone of voice what she was about to hear.

Pulling her phone away from her ear, Athena stared down at it, listening to Elaine explain that they had arrested Jacobs without tailing him, voice tinny and distant. 

They didn’t have Buck.

When she brought her phone back to her ear, it was all she could do to keep from yelling.

“When I suggested arresting him, you told me that Cooper said that it was better to find the victim first. There’s no guarantee that Jacobs will tell us where Buck is.” 

“I know. Cooper thought that if we tried a tail, we might lose him, and more people would die.”

“And what about Buck? What if Buck dies?” 

Elaine didn’t have answer for her. Athena hung up her on damning silence. Immediately, she started dialing again.

***

Maddie was just pulling up to her house when her phone rang. She parked the car in the driveway behind Chimney’s, dug her phone out of her pocket. 

“Athena? Do you have news?”

“Yeah, I have news.”   


Maddie’s stomach sank. There was something ominous about Athena’s tone. 

“Oh, God,” she mumbled, feeling the tears begin to pick the corners of her eyes. “Please, tell me Buck isn’t dead.”

“Buck isn’t dead.”

“Are you just saying that because I told you to?”

“No,” Athena denied it with such vehemence that the panic tightening Maddie’s chest receded slightly. “No, Maddie. Buck is not dead. In fact, they caught the killer.”

“So then why did you sound like that?” If they caught his killer, than Buck was safe. If Buck was safe, then everything was going to be okay.

“Because, Maddie… They still haven’t found Buck.”

“What?” That sinking feeling was back, with the added bonus of nausea. Bile clawed at the back of Maddie’s throat.

“He wasn’t at Jacobs’s apartment, and they didn’t bother trying to tail him to where Buck might be, because they didn’t want to risk  _ losing _ Jacobs.” Athena’s disdain dripped like venom down their connection. 

“Wait. Jacobs, the EMT?”

“Yeah. It’s been him this whole time.” 

“But he’s in custody now.”

“He is.”

The urge to vomit became to strong to ignore. Maddie opened her car door, threw up in the street. She barely managed to hang on to her phone, raising it to her ear again as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve. 

"Sorry."

“Don't be.” Sympathy softened Athena’s voice. “Listen, Maddie, I need you to meet me at City Hall in an hour. Bring Chimney, or maybe Hen. Don’t bring Eddie.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I have an idea. I’m going to find Buck, Maddie. I just have no idea what state I’m going to find him in. I want to make sure when I do, there are people who can take care of him.” 

Maddie blinked back her tears, nodding. 

“Alright. I’ll be there.”

“I’ll see you soon.” 

Athena hanging up the phone felt like cutting the wrong wire. For a few seconds, Maddie just sat there.

Feeling like the world had exploded.


	23. caution tape around my heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One final attempt to rescue Buck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go.

Maddie entered her house as though she was wearing weights on all her limbs, slowing her down, dragging them a little ways at a time each step. She dropped her keys in the dish that she and Chimney kept in the hallway, paused to hang up her jacket. 

It took her a moment to realize that her living room wasn’t empty. Hen and Karen seemed to be absent, although she knew they’d been there from Chimney’s texts throughout the day. Bobby was nowhere to be seen, either. 

Christopher was there, though, sitting on the couch next to Eddie. The two seemed to be concentrating on whatever movie was playing. A quick glance showed Muppets, and Maddie left it at that. They didn’t seem to notice her at first, which worked fine for Maddie.

Paused in the doorway, she stared at the man and boy who she had watched become her brother’s whole world. His family. 

They’d only just committed to really being one. Was it fair that Eddie might lose another partner? Christopher another parent? That Buck’s time with them might be cut so short? How was she supposed to tell them that Buck was still missing, when they’d only _ just _ admitted how they felt?

Shaking her head slightly to clear it, Maddie took a deep breath, forced a smile on her face.

“Hey, fellas.”

Christopher looked over at her first, face lighting up.

“Hey, Maddie,” he said, almost shy, waving slightly. 

“Maddie.” Eddie was on his feet so fast Maddie didn’t see him move. She took a step back reflexively, startled. “Any news?”

That was the last question Maddie was prepared to answer, so of course it was the first thing Eddie asked. Biting her lip, Maddie glanced around for her suspiciously absent husband.

“Uh, where’s Chim?”

It was the wrong thing to say. The question made Eddie’s face crumble.

“Dios,” he murmured, scrubbing a hand over his face. “It’s bad news, isn’t it? You heard from Athena and it’s bad.”

“Eddie,” Maddie began, stopped. She couldn’t lie to him. Turning her attention towards Christopher, she shuffled closer, crouching down to meet his eyes. “Hey, Christopher, do you know where my husband went?”

“Chimney’s in the backyard,” he said. “He’s gonna let me camp out tonight, so he’s setting up a tent.”

“That sounds like so much fun,” Maddie said, forcing herself to smile again. It was a little easier with Christopher’s words to remind her what a wonderful man she’d married. “Why don’t you go see if he needs any help?”

For a second, it almost seemed like Christopher would say no. There was something about the set of his jaw that made it very clear he was Eddie’s son. Then he was smiling again, nodding. 

“Okay, Maddie.” 

Once Christopher had left the room, Maddie took his spot on the couch, reaching her hand out to grab one of Eddie’s. 

“It’s not bad news.”

Eddie laughed, bitter, rolling damp eyes and looking anywhere but at her. 

“Right,” he said. “That’s why you sent Christopher out of the room. Why you’re moving slower than a funeral march.”

“It’s not,” Maddie insisted. “It’s just...uncertain news. They caught Buck’s kidnapper, but they haven’t found Buck.”

Eddie stared at Maddie blankly. After almost two minutes of it, she squeezed his hand again. He blinked, twitched slightly.

“So, uh,” he rubbed his hand over his jaw. “Is that it, then? The killer is caught, Buck’s collateral damage?”

“No,” Maddie said, leaning in, ducking so that she could catch Eddie’s gaze, force him to look at her. “Eddie, even if the FBI sees it that way, Athena doesn’t. She has a plan. So I need to get Chimney, and go meet her, okay? And you and Christopher are going to stay here until we get back. With Buck.”

“You don’t really believe that.”

Tugging her hand away, Maddie leaned back, narrowed her eyes at Eddie. 

“Yes,” she decided, “I do. Because when I was missing, Buck didn’t give up on me. He went looking for me, and he found me. And Buck did the same when he lost Christopher during the tsunami. So we can’t give up on him, Eddie, do you hear me? Because he wouldn’t give up on us.” 

Josh had been right about that, when he said it before. The Buckleys didn’t give up on each other. If Eddie was going to date a Buckley, he couldn’t give up either. 

Maddie watched his jaw flex, watched him swallow, blink once, twice. Then he sucked in a sharp breath, nodded. 

“We can’t give up on him.”

“No, we can’t,” Maddie agreed. “Athena is going to find him.”

“Athena is going to find him,” Eddie repeated. His brow furrowed. “Why does she need you and Chimney?”

“To make sure he’s okay when she does.” If Eddie had been thinking clearly, Maddie knew he would have come to that conclusion on his own. She took his hand again, gave it another squeeze before standing up. “We’ll bring Buck back to you, Eddie.”

As if on cue, Chimney came into the living room through the kitchen, Chris on his heels. He glanced between them, expression uncharacteristically solemn. 

“Tent’s all set up,” he said. “Eddie, Chris really wants to show it to you.”

Eddie blinked, shook his head again, stood up as well, rubbing his palms against his thighs. He pasted on a smile as he looked down at his son.

“Well, then. Let’s go check it out.”

Out in the yard, Christopher led Eddie over to the tent he had helped Chimney set up. The proud tilt of his chin as he explained how he’d helped hammer the spikes into the ground had Eddie’s chest warming for the first time in days. He couldn’t help but smile as his son talked, which was why the abrupt turn in conversation was like ice being shoved down the back of his shirt.

“Dad,” Christopher looked up at him when Eddie put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently, “Where’s Buck?”

Eddie felt the smile drop from his face. Christopher’s eyes were wide behind his thick frames, but they narrowed slightly.

“Did something happen to him?”

“Ah, Chris…” Eddie missed the days when he had to crouch down to look his son in the eyes. Christopher was getting taller every second, and all Eddie needed to do was look down slightly to meet his gaze. “Something has happened to Buck. He’s missing right now.”

Christopher looked away, back at the tent, nodding.

“That’s what Harry said. But he’s gonna be okay, Dad.”

Swallowing down the lump in his throat, Eddie tried to nod. 

“Of course he is,” he agreed. Trying to sound certain for his son. 

“Harry says Athena is going to find him.” 

“She is.” Another jerky nod.

“Then he will be okay.” Christopher reached up, pulling Eddie’s hand from his shoulder and giving his fingers a squeeze. “We’ll see him soon.”

Eddie squeezed back, finding some comfort in his son’s faith. He wished he felt that confident.

“And when we do,” Christopher continued, “Maybe we can go camping for real.”

A chuckle bubbled out of his mouth before Eddie could stop it, one that wasn’t bitter or angry or hopeless. With his other hand, he ruffled Christopher’s curls. _ Gracias Dios para mi hijo_, he thought. He could learn a thing or three from him.

“Sure, kid. That sounds great.”

Maybe looking towards the future with hope was the right way to deal with things.

***

By the time Maddie and Chimney pulled up to City Hall, Athena was standing outside of it, checking her watch and tapping her foot. In one hand, she was holding a folded up piece of paper, which she slapped into Maddie’s palm as soon as the other woman had gotten out of the car and jogged over to her.

“What’s this?” Maddie unfolded the paper, brow furrowing as she scanned its contents. “A property deed for Kevin Williams?”

“Turns out Kevin used to own and operate a mechanic’s garage out on the I-5. About a mile away from the Love’s where Terrence Garson’s body was dumped. The property is still his_ ; someone’s _ been paying the tax on it while he’s been comatose.”

“Someone like Tristan Jacobs?”

“I have no way of checking that information without a warrant for the IRS, and that’s one government bureau I don’t want to piss off. But who else could it be?”

“So you think, what, Jacobs and Owens were using this property to hide the victims?” Maddie glanced towards the car, where Chimney was waiting with a fully stocked first aid kit. She only hoped that it would be enough to get Buck to a hospital. To keep him alive, if they needed to.

Hoped that he was still alive when he found him.

“Garage shut down after Kevin Williams ended up in the hospital. No one was around to take it over. With the boss gone, employees all found other jobs. The place has been abandoned for almost fifteen years.”

“Which would make it the perfect place to take their victims.” Maddie looked at the address again. “This is where Buck is.”

“I think so.”

Lips thinning, Maddie nodded once, decisively. 

“Good. Then let’s go.” 

She turned back to the car, stopped, spun on her heel again, holding up the paper.

“Sorry. You needed this?”

Athena shook her head, hands on her hips. Her lips twitched slightly. 

“Nope. Already got it programmed into my phone. I’ll head over, if you and Chimney want to follow?”

“We’re right behind you.”

Maddie was breathless, felt flushed, as she slipped back into the passenger’s seat. She waved the paper in Chimney’s face. 

“Athena found Buck.”

Chimney snatched the paper from her, scanning the address. 

“This is out in the middle of nowhere.” 

“The perfect place to hide a kidnapping victim.” 

Chimney handed the paper back, starting the car as Athena’s tail lights turned on, signalling she’d started her own. 

“Well, then. Let’s go get him.” 

“Hold on,” Maddie put her hand on his arm. When he looked at her, she leaned over and kissed him, firm, one hand curling in his hair for a moment. 

Chimney blinked when she pulled away, a dazed smile flickering over his face.

“What was that for?”

“I love you. A lot.”

Chimney’s grin got wider, chest puffing up slightly. Then he turned his attention back to the road, pulling out to follow Athena to the highway. 

They had his annoying brother-in-law to rescue.

*** 

Buck hurt in places he hadn’t even known existed. 

Collapsed on the floor of the room he’d been stuck in for he didn’t know how long, he stared up at the hole in the ceiling, watching the sky bruise.

The hook hadn’t done much against the door, despite his best efforts. There were some dents, a hole the size of the thickest part of it, but it hadn’t done what Buck had hoped it would do. Hadn’t done anything.

Without looking at it, his fingers found the hook, tracing the curve of it, testing the sharpness of the point. If things got really bad, at least there was one way out.

Buck didn’t want to think about that. He closed his eyes, picturing Maddie’s smile, the way her eyes went soft and her cheeks plumped up. Picturing the way Christopher’s head would tilt up when he spoke to Buck.

Picturing the heat in Eddie’s gaze when his thumb brushed over Buck’s jaw. 

Licking chapped, bloody lips, Buck opened his eyes again, blinking rapidly against the swell of tears. They made everything blur. He was feeling kind of blurry at the moment. Hazy around the edges, hard to bring into focus. The last time Buck had felt like that was at the end of a bad trip, back when he was a kid. 

He’d been such a dumbass. He’d been a dumbass for too long, and he might never get the chance to be anything else. 

Rubbing the heel of a palm against one eye, Buck groaned, shook his head at himself.

“Not time to give up yet, Buckley,” he told himself. 

There was one more thing he wanted to try.


	24. a mess is still a moment I can seize

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A conclusion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just the epilogue left after this.

“Out of all the stupid ideas you’ve had, Buckley, this has to be the stupidest.”

It was hard to mimic the Cap’s voice when Buck could barely breathe, but he tried to anyway. It made him feel a little bit better. Motivated him a little bit more to pull off his dumb stunt. 

For the third time, Buck started circling the chain over his head, the hook at the end of it making an almost whistling noise. When he felt he had enough momentum, he adjusted his grip and the angle of his arm, sending the hook up with a throwing motion. He jumped up as he did it, and the hook caught the edge of the hole he’d made in the ceiling.

This time, though, instead of sending more crumbling down onto Buck’s head, the hook dragged slightly against the cement, and then caught. 

Buck gave it a tug, but it didn’t move much. 

With a grunt, he dropped back down. Took a deep breath, holding his palms open and up. They were blistered, scraped and bloody.

“This is going to hurt like a mother,” he muttered, talking to himself now mostly because the silence was driving him crazy. He hated the silence, hated being alone. When he got out of there, Buck planned on never being alone again. 

“Buck up, Buckley,” he said, one last thing to get him going. Taking another deep breath, Buck jumped up and grabbed the bottom of the chain. The way the metal smacked against his palms made him hiss; he wrapped both tightly around it anyway. Let go with one hand to reach above the first one, pull himself up a little more. Then he repeated the movement, grunting and grimacing every time he had to grab the chain. Parts of it were rusty, digging into his blisters, the cuts already there. Still, slowly, painstakingly, he dragged himself up the chain. 

About halfway up, the hook started to wobble. Buck paused, clinging to the chain, eyes squeezed shut tightly, praying to whatever deity might be up there that the hook held.

When it seemed like it would, Buck started again. Slower, this time, eyeing the walls around him despite knowing there was nothing to hold on to. The distance between himself and the ceiling closed slowly.

About two feet from the top, the ceiling started to crumble again, tiny pieces of cement hitting Buck’s face, his shoulders. 

“No…” He whispered, staring up at the hole. Buck could see the way hook was pulling at it, the pressure from his weight too much for it to hold. “Damn it.” 

Scratch that, he thought with a bitter twist of his mouth. What he was about to do was the stupidest idea he’d ever had.

Buck started swinging on the chain, a little at first, wider the more he did it. As the chain swung back and forth, it brought Buck closer to the hole in the ceiling. It also made the hook slip more. Buck watched it warily, attention split between it and and how close he was getting to the hole. When he gauged that he was close enough, he started reaching out. Stretching towards the edge of hole, trying to grab onto it.

With his back turned to the hook, Buck didn’t see it give completely, but he felt it on an upswing. Letting go of the chain with his hands, Buck threw himself at the hole in the ceiling, scrambling for purchase.

His fingers found it.

Hanging there, barely holding himself up, Buck barely had a moment to catch his breath. He let the chain drop from his legs, shook them out, and started pulling himself up out and onto the roof. 

***

Tires squealing, Athena pulled up to what had once been Kevin Williams’s garage. She parked, got out. Seconds later, Chimney and Maddie pulled up behind her. Even before the engine had died, Maddie had opened the door, running towards her. 

“What are you waiting for? We need to go in there and get him.”

“I need to go in there and make sure it’s clear, you mean.” Athena nodded at Chimney over Maddie’s shoulder when he joined them. 

“Clear? What do you mean? Owens and Jacobs are both in jail. You think there’s a third person involved?”

“I think I don’t know,” Athena told her. “Until I can check the place out and make sure, you and Chimney are staying here. I’ll give a signal when it’s clear for you to come in.”

“What sort of signal?” Chimney asked, tone a little too excited for the seriousness of the situation. If anything else had been going on, Athena would have rolled her eyes. 

“I’ll yell, Chimney. Then you two can come in, and whatever condition Buck is in, we’ll get him cleaned up and to a hospital.”

Maddie and Chimney both nodded, looking at each other. Maddie tilted her head towards the car wordlessly, and Chimney nodded again, going back to retrieve their first aid kit. Athena turned back to the building, hand going to the gun that was on her hip. Just in case. Her other hand pulled out her flashlight.

She approached the building slowly, weapon drawn and raised, path lit by a pale yellow beam. 

The entrance to a tiny office was open, although the sign said ‘closed’ in red letters that swayed when she nudged her toe against it. The office itself had been looted a long time ago, graffiti decorating walls that were smudged with dusty fingerprints. The furniture was overturned, a filing cabinet open and empty. At the other end of the room, there was another door. This was was shut.

When Athena tried the handle, she found it locked. There was a small glass panel, though. Athena used the butt of her gun to break it, made sure to push out the sharp edges before she reached into it and around, unlocking it from the other side. 

The door opened into a typical mechanics garage, with equipment rusty and dusty from years without use. Cautious, Athena looked around as she stepped inside of it, gun still raised. The garage door was pulled down, and there didn’t seem to be anyone else around. 

Slowly, Athena lowered her gun, put it back in her holster. 

Buck was nowhere to be seen. There was, however, another door, at the far end of the garage. As Athena approached it, she noticed that the wall it appeared to be a part of wasn’t actually a wall, but a long row of shelves set up to hide something. 

Another room, Athena realized. The door didn’t lead outside, it led to another room. One that was guarded by the only thing that looked new in the damn place, a steel door. 

It was bolted, on the outside. Athena grunted slightly at the weight of it as she pulled it back, dragged the door open. 

The other side of the door was marred with indents, a few small holes made from what looked like something sharp. Athena studied it, then looked further into the room. A pile of chains was in the center of it, with blood splatters all over the floor. Not all of them looked fresh. 

Looking up, Athena’s eyebrows raised practically to her hairline. There was a giant hole in the ceiling. 

What there wasn’t, was Buck.

“LAPD,” Athena called out, “If anyone is here, make your presence known.” 

Concrete fell from the hole in the ceiling. Athena moved out of its way, looking up. She tried again, louder.

“LAPD. Is someone up there?” She shone her flashlight up into the hole.

A very familiar face appeared. Even from a distance, Athena could recognize the confusion on it.

“‘Thena?”

“Buck? What the hell are you doing up there?”

“...Escaping,” Buck said after a moment. “Or I will be, as soon as I figure out how to get down.” 

“Esca...Buck, what in the hell?”

“I couldn’t get through the door with the hook, so I used it and the chain to climb up. You know, like in gym class.”

“Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?” Athena realized she was scolding him. Her hands were even on her hips as she glared up at him.

Buck, safe. Buck, grinning at her with that patented bashful-yet-obnoxious smile on his face. He didn’t seem to mind. Sudden relief had Athena’s knees buckling. She almost fell to the floor.

“Hey, be careful!” Buck reached down a hand, like there wasn’t at least twenty feet between them. “Are you alright?”

“Are _ you_?”

“I should probably get to a hospital and get checked out,” Buck conceded. “Hey, can _ you _ get me down?”

***

Athena called 9-1-1, who sent over a 136 ladder truck that was in the area. Once Buck was safely on the ground, he found himself with his arms full of crying sister.

And crying, and crying. 

At some point, Maddie was going to _ stop _ crying. Hopefully. Buck watched his sister wipe her eyes with yet another tissue, would have patted her shoulder, but Chimney was bandaging his hands. It had taken some coaxing to get Maddie to release Buck so that he could. 

“I was so worried,” she said. Again. “But I never gave up on you, Buck.”

“I never thought you would,” Buck told her. Maybe it was the wrong thing to say, though, because Maddie’s bottom lip wobbled a little, fresh tears welling up in her eyes. Chimney looked up at him, accusing. Buck tried to tell him with his face that it had been an accident, but he didn’t think Chimney got it, because all Buck got in return was an eyeroll.

“I’m okay, Maddie,” Buck tried again. His sister sniffed, shook her head.

“You’re probably starving, and dehydrated, and who knows what other sort of injuries you have. No, no, we’re taking you to the hospital for a full physical.”

“I’m right here,” Chimney said, idle, no real irritation to it. 

“You’re lucky you’re not still on blood thinners,” Maddie continued, ignoring her husband. In the background, Athena was ignoring all of them, on the phone with someone. Probably Bobby.

“Is she always like this?” Bosko appeared beside Chimney, making him and Buck both jump. Buck hissed in pain, trying to tug his hand back.

“Not so tight, Chim.” He turned his attention to Bosko. “Um, only when her brother’s been kidnapped.”

“Riiight.” 

“Hey, thanks for getting me down, by the way.”

“No problem. I’m just glad you’re okay. I would not have wanted to deal with Diaz broken up about you.” 

“How touching,” Chimney muttered, earning a snort from Buck. Bosko rolled her eyes, jerked her thumb over her shoulder. 

“Anyway, Cap just sent me over to tell you that if you don’t need us for anything else, we’re gonna take off.”

“Go,” Buck waved her off with a completely bandaged hand. One down, one to go. “I can catch a ride to the hospital with my sister or Athena.”

“Sounds good.” With a thumbs up, Bosko walked away, backwards at first before turning around and striding off to where her own team was milling around. After a brief conversation with her captain, they started packing up to leave. 

“Hey,” Buck swung his attention back to Chimney. “Has anyone called Eddie?”

***

His phone was ringing. Eddie glanced at Christopher, but his son was engrossed in his tablet and the video about building a fire he was watching on it. Preparing, he said, for when they went camping for real, with Buck.

Eddie checked the name on his screen, saw Maddie’s.

For half a heartbeat, Eddie thought about not answering. If the news was bad, he didn’t want to hear it. Not yet. Wanted to live in the bubble he and his son had constructed, where when Buck got back, they’d have a camping trip to plan. 

It was better to face it. With another glance at his son, Eddie picked up his phone, crawled out of the tent before he answered it.

“Maddie?”

“Wrong Buckley.”

_ “Evan.” _

“Hi, Eddie.” The softness in Buck’s voice was one Eddie could picture on his face when he closed his eyes. 

Eddie was glad he hadn’t stood up. It made it easier for him to fall on his ass in the grass. 

“Buck,” Eddie said, “You’re okay.”

“I am. Well, mostly okay. My hands are messed up, but they’ll heal. Maddie’s making me go to the hospital before she brings me home. You’re there, right? At Maddie’s?”

“Chris and I are both here.” Moving as if in molasses, Eddie stretched his legs out in front of himself, leaning back.

“Good. Good, because I want to see you. I have spent the last...however long, thinking about you guys.”

“Yeah?” Eddie’s breath hitched, a slow smile curling his lips. “We were thinking about you too.” 

“So you’ll be there when we get there?”

Eddie wasn’t planning on going anywhere.


	25. all will be well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I made it this far.

_ Six Months Later _

Parking space in Eddie’s neighborhood was typically hard to come by, but on that sunny May morning, so hot tank tops and shorts were the only fashion choice, it was impossible. A moving van had the prime spot, right in front of the Diaz house, sandwiched between the Nash family vehicle and Maddie and Chimney’s car. There were another three cars parked across the street, and Buck’s Jeep was exactly where it belonged.

Next to Eddie’s truck in the driveway. 

Buck himself was in the middle of setting down a box in the living room, very carefully. Christopher was watching him raptly from a spot on the couch. 

“Is _ that _ the video games?” He asked, in the tone of a child who had asked the same question several times without receiving the correct answer. Buck turned his head to flash him a grin. 

“It is. Why don’t you go find the boys, see if they want to help you set it up and play a couple of games before dinner is ready?”

Buck watched Christopher’s face light up. He nodded eagerly, curls bouncing and reminding Buck it would be time to take him in for a trim soon. Maybe they’d try the undercut for summer like Chris kept mentioning. 

Christopher was on his feet with his crutches on as fast as he could get them, barreling towards the front door. He reached it just as it opened, Maddie appearing.

Or rather, Maddie’s belly appearing. The rest of his sister took a little while to show up. At almost eight months pregnant, she was huge.

Not that Buck would ever say it to her face. Or even behind her back. He _would_ tell her that she was glowing, because that was too, true.

Somehow, though, Chimney was glowing even more. In fact, he seemed to float around the station, lately. 

“Oops,” Christopher managed to stop before he actually ran into Maddie. “Sorry, Maddie.” 

“Just be careful, Chris,” Maddie rubbed her belly as she spoke, smiling at Christopher as she moved aside so that he could pass her. “I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“Okay, tia!” He called the words over his shoulder, leaving a chuckling Buck and Maddie with tears in her eyes once more.

“He just called me tia,” she sniffed. Buck paused his unpacking of the game console, straightening up. He padded over to Maddie, wrapping an arm around his sister’s shoulders. 

“Imagine how I felt the first time he called me Papa.” Buck knew better than to touch Maddie’s belly, so he just gave her shoulder a squeeze, “And soon enough, this little one’s going to be calling you Mom.”

“Mom.” Maddie blinked, eyes glistening looking up at the ceiling and sniffing again. “I can’t believe I’m going to be a Mom. I can’t believe that you’re practically a dad. I can’t believe this is our life, Evan.” 

“It’s a pretty great one.” Buck gave his sister a quick kiss on the forehead, and Maddie leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder for a second. When she pulled back, she had recovered from her emotional moment. 

“Chimney’s in the back?”

“He and Bobby have commandeered the grill,” Buck confirmed, grinning. “And I think Karen and Pepa are in the kitchen comparing potato salad recipes?”

“Clever of you to have a housewarming party when all you’re doing is moving in with your boyfriend, by the way,” Maddie told him, beginning her slight waddle in the direction of Eddie’s backyard. 

“Hey,” Buck held up his left hand, wiggling his ring finger, which wore a plain titanium band, “_ fiance._”

“Yeah, as of last night. Give me a week or two to get used to it, Buck.” Maddie was smiling, laughing a little as she waved over her shoulder at her brother. Buck watched her go with his own grin, hands on his hips as he glanced around the living room.

The great thing about having spent the last several years living in what was, more or less, a studio apartment, was that he hadn’t had a lot of stuff to move. Most of his clothes had already been in Eddie’s closet, and Eddie already owned everything they really needed for the household, so what Buck did have was extra. Except, of course, for the video game console. 

They were going to have to set strict rules about that. 

“You look like you’re thinking too hard about something.”

As though summoned, Eddie appeared in the alcove that led back towards their bedroom, wearing a pair of khaki shorts and a blue tank top that made Buck’s mouth water a little. 

They had company, he reminded himself.

“Not too hard,” Buck retorted, sauntering over to his fiance. He settled his hands over Eddie’s slim hips. Company didn’t mean he couldn’t show a little appreciation, after all. “I was just realizing that we’re going to need to come up with rules about the video games, now that I’m living here. It was different when it was something he only got to do when he visited my apartment, you know?”

Eddie slid his own hands up Buck’s arms, one resting on a shoulder, the other cupping his jaw. He smiled, eyes dark and warm, when Buck turned his face into his palm, letting his eyes slip into something heavy-lidded and comforted.

“Let’s worry about that tomorrow, babe, okay? Today, we should just enjoy you finally moving in, and all our friends being here to help us celebrate.” 

“I know, I know. It’s just hard to shut that part of my brain off, you know? I’m not as used to being a parent as you are.”

Eddie laughed. “Buck, you’ve been a parent for four years. All we’ve done recently is make it a little more official.”

“See, I know that you’re right,” Buck tugged Eddie a little closer, “I just like to hear you say it.”

Chin tilting up, Eddie smirked. The hand on Buck’s shoulder joined the first in cupping Buck’s face.

“Is that right? Say what, exactly?”

“That it’s official. We’re a family.”

“Of course we’re a family. You, me, Christopher. The puppy I’m not supposed to know Hen is bringing over later _ for _ Christopher.”

Buck widened his eyes in feigned shock. 

“Hen’s bringing a puppy? Are we okay with this?”

_“Idiota,”_ Eddie murmured, fond, tugging Buck down the smallest amount so that he could kiss him. “Don’t act like you didn’t give her the idea by talking about how much he wants one.”

“Hen says having a dog is good for Denny.” 

“And this has nothing to do with you wanting one?”

Buck’s grin could only be called impish. He shrugged. 

“Well, I didn’t say that.”

“That means you get to clean up after it when Christopher doesn’t,” Eddie said, kissed him again, quick. Then he dropped his hands, stepping back. “What else do you have in the truck?”

“Just stuff the thrift store is going to come by to pick up later,” Buck shrugged. “I’m pretty much done. All moved in. I officially live here.” Buck used his freed up hands to gesture around them, at the bungalow-style house that was his new home. 

“Officially being the key word,” Eddie pointed out, catching Buck’s hand with his and tugging him towards the kitchen. Three generations of Diaz women were in that kitchen, and Eddie hadn’t eaten in a few hours. 

“It’s a very important word,” Buck said, insistent. “It means no take backs, Edmundo.”

“That’s not something you ever need to worry about, Buck. We’re getting our happy ending.”

Buck stopped him just before they entered the kitchen, grin going from impish to soft.   
“I prefer to think of it as us getting our happy beginning.”

Because it was.

***

Arnie had ordered a pizza.

Ordering out was the only way he got food anymore; going out into the world was a waste of time when the internet put everything at his fingertips. His credit card stealing software might not have been legal, but Arnie wasn’t an asshole about it. 

He only took from the rich. A modern day, techie Robin Hood.

And, hell, he’d helped the FBI solve a serial killer case half a year before. Without them knowing about it. Surely that meant Bill Gates could buy him a damn pizza.

It wasn’t pizza on the other side of the door when he opened it, however. It wasn’t even just a cute pizza guy, which Arnie might have accepted.

It was a badge, held by a woman with dark hair high up in a tight bun and sunglasses that covered her eyes. The badge read FBI.

“Arnie Hansen?”

Without waiting for an answer, the woman stepped inside. Arnie couldn’t exactly stop her from doing it. Not without getting himself arrested.

He wished he’d hidden his weed before he answered the door. It was hanging out of his coffee table, a half-packed bong next to his grinder and an eighth.

“Arnie, I’m Agent Cooper from the FBI. I work in a division specifically trained to profile and track down murderers and serial killers.”

“...I actually prefer Enigma,” Arnie said. He wasn’t sure why. It got him a glare that made his balls want to hide, even through the sunglasses. He zipped up his hoodie, as though it would protect him from it. 

“We half a dozen files on a dozen different hackers to all call themselves Enigma, Arnie. Stick with your real name.”

“Right,” Arnie’s voice sounded weak even to his own ears. “Okay. So, uh, why are you here?”

Cooper held up a familiar USB stick, and Arnie eyed his front door in a panic.

Damn it. He never should have trusted Josh’s friend. That was what he got for carrying flames for exes. 

“Try as he might, our computer programmer has no idea what you did. He says it shouldn’t even be possible.”

Arnie had to resist the urge to puff his chest up. He shrugged. 

“Okay?”

“So you have two options, Arnie. I either arrest you for this, and for the marijuana, the credit card fraud, and a whole lot of other things we both know you did.”

Arnie folded his arms over his chest, biting his lower lip. Considered that. 

“What’s the other option?”

Cooper lowered her sunglasses, just enough for Arnie to see her brown eyes, narrowed slightly.

“How would you like a job?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaand it is DONE. Thank you so much to everyone who has gone on this crazy journey with me. In a couple of months, I'll be revisiting to revise and edit slightly, but for now, I am done with this story.  
As always, please, please, let me know what you think. Let me know your favorite parts.  
If I ever return to writing in this 'verse, I'm thinking the Buckley-Diaz camping trip, the proposal... Maybe Maddie finding out about the baby and telling Chimney?

**Author's Note:**

> Encouragement is greatly appreciated! Please, please let me know what you think.


End file.
